GREENFIELD — The race for the top spot in the South Central Ohio League girls basketball standings tightened up a bit.

Thanks to Taylor Polley, McClain held off Clinton-Massie 42-30 to put the two rivals in a tie for second place in the league standings.

Miami Trace sits atop the league with an 8-1 mark. The Lady Panthers defeated East Clinton 52-39 Wednesday.

Clinton-Massie (12-2 overall) and McClain (11-3 overall) are both 6-2 in the league.

The Lady Falcons will get a shot at the Lady Panthers Saturday afternoon.

“It’s kind of disappointing,” said Roberts. “We just have to get back at it and be ready for Trace on Saturday.”

A third league loss Saturday would almost certainly knock Massie out of title contention. Roberts and the Lady Falcons know that.

“We can’t afford to go in there Saturday and have it be any other way than us come out of there with a victory,” he said. “They want us from the last time, we just have to be ready.”

Clinton-Massie defeated McClain 46-43 in overtime in the first meeting in November.

Miquela Santoro led Clinton-Massie with 13 points, but she was held scoreless in the opening quarter and had just two in the fourth.

Taylor Polley paced the Lady Tigers with 19 points. She had just 10 through three quarters but then scored nine in the fourth.

Polley was 7 for 11 at the free throw line in the final period.

It was a tight game throughout the first half, with the Lady Tigers holding a 20-19 advantage at the half. Clinton-Massie, however, managed just 11 points in the second half and was never able to make a game of it.

“That’s very uncharacteristic … we just went ice cold,” said Roberts. “We missed a lot of easy shots, shots we knew we could get and when we had the opportunity to knock those little shots down, we didn’t capitalize on them. And eventually it cost us.”

SUMMARY

Jan 6, 2016

@McClain High School

McClain 42 Clinton-Massie 30

CM 07.12.07.04…..30

GM 10.10.11.11…..42

(42) McCLAIN (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Montgomery 1-0-1-3 Malea Montavon 3-1-0-7 Polley 5-0-9-19 Barton 1-0-2-4 Coleman 0-0-2-2 Stegbauer 1-0-0-2 Makenzie Montavon 2-0-1-5. TOTALS 13-1-15-42

(30) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Santoro 4-1-4-13 Theetge 0-0-0-0 Rose 0-0-0-0 Purkey 1-1-2-5 Meyers 3-0-2-8 Fisher 1-0-0-2 Leary 0-0-0-0 Ireland 0-0-0-0 Newton 1-0-0-2. TOTALS 10-2-8-30

REBOUNDS: CM-30 (Meyers 13 Theetge 5 Purkey 5 Santoro 3 Newton 2 Fisher 1 Rose 1)

ASSISTS: CM-7 (Santoro 3 Rose 2 Meyers 2)

STEALS: CM-5 (Santoro 2 Theetge 1 Purkey 1 Newton 1)

BLOCKED SHOTS: CM-1 (Purkey)

TURNOVERS: CM-13