ADAMS TOWNSHIP — Bouyed by the return of Hannah Bowman, Clinton-Massie defeated Blanchester 51-25 Friday night at Brian P. Mudd Court.
”It means everything to us,” Clinton-Massie head coach Hilma Crawford said of Bowman’s return. “We can do a lot more. I know she’s not really 100 percent yet. She got into a bad car wreck before our first game, but tonight she was ready to play. She’s our team leader. I was really happy with her effort tonight, super proud of her.”
It didn’t take long for CM to click. The Falcons opened the game on a 5-0 run as Bowman and fellow senior Alex Pence were able to cut through the Blan defense early. Karlee Tipton put the Wildcats on the scoreboard at the line and a few possessions later, she was able to get an easy fastbreak lay-in to draw her team within a point.
The two teams went on to trade nearly every score not allowing either side to separate. With just 10 seconds left in the quarter, Blanchester’s Shelbie Panetta was able to score on a tough inside lay-in to put the Cats on top 14-13.
It was then that the Falcons began heating up, opening the quarter with an 8-0 run. Blan was able to get on the board for the first time with about 3:40 remaining in the half, but CM remained on fire with Bowman quickly knocking down a three, and Laila Davis connecting from the mid range. The Wildcats did not score again the rest of the half and faced a 30-16 deficit entering the lockerroom.
Despite neither team being able to put points up early in the second half, Bowman created a highlight play when she hit an athletic lay up that was able to get the CM bench fired up and the team back in rhythm. Massie utterly dominated the rest of the third, and for the second quarter straight, Blan was held to just two points.
In the fourth, not much changed as Massie moved to 4-7 with their second straight win.
About his team’s back-to-back wins, coach Crawford said, “We got our two girls back (Bowman and Davis), makes us a little bit deeper, so we look to carry it on. We got our next opponent in Monroe and the girls seem pretty excited.”
Blan now falls to 1-9 on the season and will look to pick it back up against Mariemont on Jan. 4.
SUMMARY
Dec 30, 2023
@Brian P. Mudd Court
Clinton-Massie 51, Blanchester 25
B^14^2^2^7^^25
CM^13^17^11^10^^51
(25) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Roy 1-0-1-3, Tedrick 0-0-0-0, Harris 0-0-0-0, Coyle 0-0-0-0, Gillman 0-0-0-0, Tipton 2-1-0-7, Trovillo 1-0-0-2, Abbott 0-0-0-0, Lansing 0-0-0-0, Panetta 3-0-1-7, Kelly 3-0-0-6 TOTALS 10-1-2-25
(51) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Myers 0-2-1-7, Bayless 1-0-0-2, Swope 1-0-0-2, Smith 0-0-0-0, Redman 2-0-0-4, Pence 3-0-1-7, Long 1-0-3-5, Carter 0-0-0-0, Collett 0-0-0-0, Maxwell-Deboard 0-0-0-0, Bowman 4-2-2-16, Sandlin 1-0-0-2, Davis 2-0-0-4, Green 1-0-0-4 TOTALS 16-4-7
