TROTWOOD – Waynesville, ranked 12th in the final Associated Press Division II Ohio girls basketball poll, ended Clinton-Massie’s season Tuesday with a 51-34 victory in a sectional tournament matchup at Trotwood-Madison High School.
This is the first matchup for the cross-lake rivals since Nov. 26, 2016, which Waynesville won 49-30.
Waynesville (19-4) advances to play Thursday versus the winner of New Carlisle Tecumseh and Dayton Archbishop Carroll, which play immediately following Waynesville and Massie.
Clinton-Massie won four of its last six to finish the season at 9-12, the most wins since eight during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.
This season’s conference finish also is its best since the 2018-19 season.
“I’m super proud of them. The effort is always there. You want girls competing as hard as they can. We like what we have coming back. These girls have really come together, and we’ve played well down the stretch,” CM head coach Hilma Crawford said. “We just have to take it to the next level. I can’t be more proud of them. I like the direction the program is going.”
Massie jumped out to a 12-7 lead early in the second quarter thanks to a 6-0 spurt.
Waynesville tied the game with five straight. It was the beginning of a 23-4 run that gave the Spartans a 30-16 cushion midway through the third quarter.
“We only average 13 turnovers a game. We take care of the basketball generally,” Crawford said of his team’s 26 turnovers Tuesday. “In the first half, they had five steals for five layups. We gave them 10 points, and we were down just 22-16 at half.”
With seven of the last nine points of the third quarter and the four of first five of the fourth quarter, Massie pulled to within 33-27 with 6:15 to go in the contest. That would be as close as the Falcons would get.
The Spartans outscored the Falcons 18-7 the rest of the way; including seven points in a 39-second span on two steals leading to a pair of free throws and a bucket, plus a three.
SUMMARY
CM – 10 6 7 11 – 34
WHS – 7 15 10 19 – 51
CM (34) – Pence 0-0-0, Phipps 2-0-5, Bowman 4-0-9, Branham 0-2-2, Eades 6-2-14, Davis 1-0-2, Redman 1-0-2. Total 14-4-34. 3-point goals: 2 (Phipps, Bowman). FTM-FTA 4-6, 67 percent.
WHS (51) – Whitaker 0-1-1, Greely 2-2-6, See 0-0-0, Berrey 5-4-18, Stephensen 8-5-21, Kuhns 0-0-0, Malcolm 0-0-0, Bunch 1-0-2, Stupp 1-0-3, Cordery 0-0-0. Total 17-12-51. 3-point goals: 5 (Berrey 4, Stupp). FTM-FTA 12-18, 67 percent.
