Trailing by 10 points going into the final period, Wilmington faced an uphill battle against undefeated Clinton-Massie Saturday night at Fred Summers Court.
However, the Lady Hurricane was not to be denied, outscoring the Lady Falcons by a 17-5 margin, and posting a 60-58 victory in South Central Ohio League action.
With the victory, WHS improves to 3-4 overall and improves 2-3 in the conference. Clinton-Massie is now 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the SCOL.
Wilmington freshman Mya Jackson tied the game at 57-57, but Clinton-Massie’s Emily Ireland put the Lady Falcons back on top 58-57 with a free throw.
Jackson then went hard to the basket for a field goal, then converted the free throw on an old-fashioned 3-point play giving the Lady Cane a 60-58 lead. Massie’s heave to the basket failed giving WHS the dramatic come from behind victory.
Jackson, who scored 17 points on the night, had 10 in the second half and accounted for 8 of the Lady ’Cane’s 4th quarter points.
Faith Sanderson led the Wilmington scoring attack with 22 points, including 4 3-point baskets, and Leah Frisco scored 13.
Clinton-Massie was led by Miquela Santoro with 22 points, including 18 in the first half, as the Falcons took a 34-28 lead at the intermission.
“What can you say about these girls … that was quite a comeback,” said WHS coach Mark Short. “Despite facing a lot of obstacles, and poor free throw shooting, they just kept fighting back and found a way to win. This is a big victory for us and gives us some momentum now in the league.”
On the opposite end of the floor, Lady Falcons’ head coach Carlos Roberts did not mince words regarding the outcome. His squad failed to execute and let their 9th victory of the year slip away.
“We just let them have it. We did not box out, we did not take care of the basketball … you can’t turn it over 20 times and expect to get a win,” said Roberts. “But, we’ll be back. We’ll learn from this and we just have to look ahead to Wednesday.”
C-M travels to Washington Senior Wednesday night.
For the Lady Falcons, Savannah Myers had 11 points, including 7 in the first half. Also in double figures for the Lady Falcons was senior Madison Purkey with 10 points, including 6 in the 3rd period.
Neither team capitalized at the free throw line as the Lady Cane converted 7 of 19 attempts while the Lady Falcons were 18 of 31 from the charity stripe.
Wilmington struggled in the second half, making just 6 of 15 in the second half. That percentage must improve, coach Short says, and it is something his team will be focusing on immediately.
“If we could consistently hit those free throws, we might have a couple more wins. It really cost us in the game last Saturday up at (Miami) Trace and we could have sealed the win tonight if we had knocked down some earlier opportunities, ” he said.
On Wednesday, Wilmington travels to Hillsboro to face the Lady Indians, before returning to Fred Summers Court against Chillicothe Saturday night.
