OWENSVILLE — After nearly blowing a 20-point halftime lead, Clinton-Massie held on to defeat Clermont Northeastern 48-44 Monday night in a non-league game at CNE.
Aidan Eades made 2 free throws with 10.2 seconds to go to seal the win for the Lady Falcons.
Clinton-Massie moves to 1-4 on the year. The Rockets go to 0-3.
The win is the first varsity victory for first-year head coach Hilma Crawford.
McKenna Branham led Massie with 20 points, 17 of those coming in the high-flying first half.
Promise Shircliff had 13 points — all in the second half — to pace the Rockets offense.
Clinton-Massie led 31-11 at halftime.
“Everybody contributed,” Crawford said. “We played good defense. We were making shots. When you’re rolling, everybody was feeding off it.”
In the second half, though, the Massie shots that were falling in the first half were going down in the second half. The Rockets battled back to within 37-26 after 3 quarters and had the difference down to 4 with the ball in the final quarter.
“There was a lot of learning going on in the fourth quarter,” Crawford said. “We’re still a young team. We locked down when we had to. Aidan had some turnovers in the fourth, but made up for it with some big free throws in the end.”
The free throw line was the difference in the second half. The Falcons made 9 of 10 — Eades was 4 for 4 — while the Rockets managed just 5 of 15 at the line in the final 2 quarters.
Crawford said Kenzie Avery played well overall. “She was all over the floor,” the coach added.
“When you have a team that isn’t used to winning, you look at it and we’re positive about it,” Crawford. “They wanted to make it interesting for me. It’s good to get that monkey off our backs.”
SUMMARY
Dec 28, 2020
@Clermont Northeastern High School
Clinton-Massie 48 Clermont Northeastern 44
CM^15^16^6^11^^48
CNE^7^4^15^18^^44
(48) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Eades 3-0-4-10 Crawford 1-0-2-4 Avery 2-0-2-6 Phipps 2-0-0-4 Branham 6-4-4-20 Jaramillo 0-0-0-0 Lay 1-0-0-2 Crowe 1-0-0-2 Cranmer 0-0-0-0 Thompson 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 16-4-12-48
(44) CLERMONT NORTHEASTERN (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Shircliff 6-0-1-13 Bost 1-0-0-2 Brown 2-1-0-5 Ritter 2-0-2-6 A. Brown 1-1-0-3 Drewry 2-1-2-7 Beverly 2-2-2-8 TOTALS 16-5-7-44
