Manchester’s Lyrric Hanson eyes the bucket before firing in a first quarter three-pointer in the Lady Hounds’ loss to Lynchburg on January 30. Hanson led the Lady Hounds with 16 points. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Lady Hounds give one to Lynchburg
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
One quality that can be admired in people is their generous spirit. That doesn’t not hold so true for a girls basketball team. In the case of Coach Jordan Johnson and his youthful Manchester Lady Greyhounds, the giving spirit has become an issue that the team is dealing with game after game, leading them to what is now a 2-15 record in the 2025-26 season.
The Lady Hounds hosted the Lynchburg Lady Mustangs on Friday, January 30 and the “turnover trauma” that has plagued them all season again raised its ugly head. With the Lady Mustangs accumulating numerous easy buckets thanks to Manchester miscues, the visitors were easily able to hand the Lady Hounds their 10the consecutive loss, this time by a 60-41 final.
“We’re a young team and we watch a bunch of film and lay out the scenarios that we can’t do and then we go out and do it,” said Coach Johnson after the loss. “We’ve been trying some different things that will help is get off to a better start and avoid foul trouble.”
“It’s hard to keep the girls motivated when we lose, especially when we are in the locker room and they hear the other team celebrating. It’s been a little demoralizing but we just have to show up the next day and it starts with us coaches to make all the girls buy in collectively.”
The Friday night contest got off to a bad start for the Lady Hounds, as they did something that has again been a problem this season, they dug a hole on the scoreboard that they spent the night valiantly attempting to dig out of. With two baskets coming off of Manchester turnovers, the Lady Mustangs raced to a 9-2 advantage, before a Lyrric Hanson three-pointer pulled the home team back into the fray with 3:05 left in the first. Lynchburg was unfazed, however, as they closed the opening period on an 8-2 run to lead by double digits, 17-7, after the initial eight minutes.
The lead for the visitors expanded as they scored the first 10 points of the second frame, a run that included a pair of three-point goals from junior Addy Carraher. That put the Lady Mustangs up by 20 and when the two teams later traded three-balls, Hanson for Manchester and Carraher again for Lynchburg, the lead for the Lady Mustangs stood at 32-14. After free throws from the Lady Hounds’ Maddi Curtis and Lynchburg’s Madison McMullen, the first half ended with the Lady Hounds staring at a 33-15 deficit.
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