This is a view that probably haunted Manchester head coach Jordan Johnson and his team - West Union’s Annabelle McIntosh following through on one of her seven successful three-point shots in the Lady Dragons’ 63-23 win on December 16. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
McIntosh scores 25 in West Union win at Manchester
Manchester freshman Bella Hughes (30) gets up a baseline runner in action from the Lady Hounds’ SHAC loss to West Union on December 16 in the Hound Pound. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Manchester’s Faith Scott, center, attempts to split West Union defenders Shelbi Weakley, left, and Ashlah Staten, right, to get off a last second shot during the December 16 SHAC contest in Manchester. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
When the West Union Lady Dragons boarded the bus on December 16 for the short trip to Manchester to battle the Lady Hounds, they must have reserved a special spot in the back for some extra artillery, as they showed up at the Hound Pound with as much artillery as General Meade had on the third day at Gettysburg, and they may have hit as many targets.
Pulling out the long distance artillery from the game’s opening possessions, the Lady Dragons fired in 14 three-point bombs, seven of those from red-hot sophomore Annabelle McIntosh, as they blasted early and often on their way to a 63-23 Southern Hills Athletic Conference victory.
“Fourteen threes is pretty good,” said West Union head coach Jacob Stout after the win. “When you settle down, get the ball to the right people and take the shots with confidence, it works out. Some of our girls have been in a shooting slump, so it was good to hit a few tonight.”
It didn’t take long for the bombs to start falling in Manchester as the Lady Dragons opened the contest with back-to-back-to back three-pointers from Maddie Stout, McIntosh and Ashlah Staten on their first three possessions to open up a 9-0 lead before most fans even got settled in their seats. Staten followed that up with a steal and score to make it 11-0 before the Lady Hounds got on the board with a basket from Destiny Alexander.
A quick answer from West Union came in the form of another McIntosh three-ball and a trio of free throws from Stout and Jocelyn Hall extended the visitors’ lead to 17-2. With 47.6 seconds left in the first period, Abby Neria hit a pair of charity tosses for the home team, only to see McIntosh light up the fuse again from behind the arc. Manchester got a bucket from freshman Bella Hughes but in the final seconds it was McIntosh once more, locked and loaded from long range, with a three-point goal that left the Lady Dragons with a 23-6 advantage after eight minutes of action.
Facing that double digit deficit, the second quarter couldn’t have started any worse for the Lady Hounds as they put up little resistance as West Union scored the first 13 points of the stanza, a run that included an old-fashioned three-point play after a Staten steal and of course, two more blasts from long distance from McIntosh found their target, the bottom of the net. That gave the Lady Dragons a commanding 36-6 lead before Manchester temporarily stopped the bleeding with a basket from Neria but the home team still went to halftime trailing big, 37-8.
The Lady Hounds got a basket from Mahayla Brown to open the third quarter, but again the West Union troops had an answer, an 8-0 run that included three-pointers from Staten and McIntosh, the latter of which put the game in fast forward with the OHSAA running clock as the Lady Dragons led 45-10.
A basket and then two free throws from Brown gave the Lady Hounds a short 4-0 spurt but the Lady Dragons closed out the third quarter with another run of their own, this time 11-2 and adding another trio of three pointers, one by Staten, one by Olivia Lewis and another at the buzzer from Violet Randolph to give the guests a 56-16 lead after three quarters.
The rapidly played final period began with the Lady Hounds getting their only three-point goal of the game, from the freshman Hughes. Naturally, the West Union side responded with their own trey, the second of the night from Randolph. Manchester for a pair of free throws from freshman Maddi Curtis and a nice floater in the land from fellow freshman Faith Scott to make it 59-23 and the Lady Dragons closed out the scoring with two free throws from Kaydence Cook and a bucket from Kale Garrison to account for the 63-23 final.
With the seven three-pointers, it was a career night for West Union’s Annabelle McIntosh as she finished with a game and career high 25 points. Ashlah Staten also hit double figures with 16 while Violet Randolph and Maddie Stout each score 6. The win snapped a two-game losing streak and improved their season mark to 5-2, 3-2 in conference play.
Manchester was led by 6 points from Mahayla Brown, with Bella Hughes adding 5. The Lady Hounds fell to 2-6 with the loss, 0-5 in the conference.
West Union
23 14 19 7 —63
Manchester
6 2 8 7 —23
W. Union (63): Randolph 2 0-0 6, Staten 6 1-1 16, Hall 0 3-6 3, Garrison 1 0-0 2, Stout 2 1-4 6, Lewis 1 0-0 3, McIntosh 9 0-0 25, Cook 0 2-2 2, Team 21 6-13 63.
Manchester (23): Alexander 2 0-0 4, Curtis 0 2-2 2, Hughes 2 0-4 5, Scott 1 0-1 2, Neria 1 2-3 4, Brown 2 2-2 6, Team 9 6-12 23.
Three-Point Goals:
W. Union (14); Randolph 2, Staten 3, Stout 1, Lewis 1, McIntosh 7
Manchester (1): Hughes 1
