Manchester freshman Maddie Easter led the Lady Hounds with 19 points in their 54-40 loss at Ripley on December 20.(Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Manchester’s Faith Scott is fouled as she drives to the basket in first half action from the Lady Hounds’ loss at Ripley on Saturday afternoon. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
For Coach Jordan Johnson and his Manchester Lady Greyhounds, the roster is already a little slim with only nine players, but take away three of those and things can be a little dicey. That was the situation facing the Lady Hounds on Saturday, December 20 as they traveled to Ripley for a noon tip off of a rescheduled game lost earlier to weather.
The Lady Hounds were missing leading scorer Hayden Rideout, plus sophomores Bella Hughes and Hope Scott. The Lady Jays were down a player too, missing leading returning scorer Raquel Hackney, who was out with an ankle injury, but they have a much deeper roster to compensate. That seemed to make all the difference as the Lady Jays picked up their second win of the season, downing the Lady Hounds 54-40 in a Southern Hills Athletic Conference match up.
For visiting Manchester, points came at a premium in the early going on Saturday as they only managed a single free throw over the entire span of the first quarter, a free throw from Faith Scott at the 3:26 mark. In the meantime, the Lady Jays put up 12, with senior Brooklyn Manning scoring 10 of those, including a pair of three-point goals.
Early in the second stanza, the home team increased its lead to 15-1 before the Lady Hounds got their first field goal of the game, part of a Scott three-point play. A stickback by Maddi Curtis cut the Ripley lead to 15-6 but the Lady Jays scored five straight to extend the lead. Manchester got a pair of free throws from Maddie Easter but three-balls by Manning and Abi Taylor put the Lady Hounds in a 30-8 hole. With 10 seconds left in the first half, a steal and score by Easter got the Lady Hounds into double digits on the scoreboard, but they still found themselves down by 20 at the intermission.
After the Lady Jays opened the third period with a three-pointer, the Lady Hounds showed some signs of life with a 9-3 run, getting another “and one” from Scott to close the gap to 36-19. After Ripley got a basket from Callie Fultz, Manchester rallied again with a 7-0 spurt that included a Lyrric Hanson three-pointer to make things interesting and move to withing 38-26. Ripley’s Taylor broke that run with a corner trey and a Scott layup at the buzzer left the home team in front 41-28 after three.
With two baskets by Scott to open the fourth quarter, the Lady Hounds finally sliced the Ripley lead down to single digits at 41-32, but a later 9-0 run from the home side put an end to the Manchester comeback dreams. A three-pointer from Sophia Miller, a bucket from Manning, and two charity tosses from Justyce Cracraft put Ripley up 54-36. In the game’s final minute, the Lady Hounds got two free throws from senior Mahayla Brown (who also collected her 500th career rebound in the game) and a Scott runner to account for the final score of 54-40 in a valiant effort from a shorthanded Manchester squad.
The Lady Jays (2-4, 2-3) were led in scoring by Brooklyn Manning, who poured in a game-high 24 points and made it a double-double performance by hauling down 12 rebounds. Junior Abi Taylor added 9 points, all of them coming from behind the three-point arc.
Manchester was led by 19 points from freshman Maddie Easter, 13 of those coming in the second half, with Lyrric Hanson adding 7 and Maddi Curtis 6.
The Lady Hounds (2-7, 0-5) were back in action on Monday, December 22 with a conference road trip to West Union and will be on their home floor in non-conference action on Saturday, December 27, facing the Western Latham Lady Indians.
BOX SCORE
Manchester
1 9 18 12 —40
Ripley
12 18 11 13 —54
Manchester (40): Easter 18, Hanson 7, Curtis 6, Brown 4, F. Scott 5
Ripley (54): Wilkins 4, Fultz 4, Taylor 9, Manning 24, Tucker 4, Miller 7, Cracraft 2
