ADAMS TOWNSHIP — Clinton-Massie girls basketball celebrated its senior night Monday with a dominant first SBAAC American Division win, 51-30, against New Richmond at Brian P. Mudd Court.
“It feels great,” Falcon head coach Hilma Crawford said. “We’ve been working hard. The kids have really been working, there’s no quit in them. We’ve been preaching we got senior night against New Richmond, a team we thought we could get and it’s the fourth year in a row we haven’t lost on senior night, so I just told them let’s not start tonight. They came out and they were really excited about playing and I’m just glad for these four seniors. It’s gotta be an awesome feeling for them.”
The Falcons opened their night with the usual festivities honoring each of their star seniors — Madi Bayless, Alex Pence, Hannah Bowman, Laila Davis — as well as three from New Richmond — Kiera Kirk, Meredith Kuhlman, Sydney Miller.
On the court, the game began as fast-paced as one could imagine with Bowman knocking down a three right off the opening tip. On the next possession following a steal at half-court, Laila Davis maneuvered her way open under the basket and knocked it down as the Falcons were on their way to an early 7-0 lead.
A few possessions later Miller was finally able to score for the Lions, but CM was unwavering as after two great plays from Bowman and Bayless to keep the ball in play, Hailey Myers found herself open from mid-range and put it in. After a three from Kierra Kirk, Bowman quickly responded again sparking an 8-1 run off of multiple NR turnovers.
Coach Crawford was happy with his team’s defensive effort during the run.
“It was a really big focus. I was able to watch a ton of film today. We knew if we put a lot of pressure on them, they’d turn the ball over,” Crawford said. “So that was a big factor. We wanted to get our tempo going and we forced them into a lot of bad passes.”
The run lasted up until Madison Steelman was able to knock down a long three with 40 seconds remaining in the quarter, but on the next possession, Addison Swope blew by the defense to put it in for the Falcons and put them up 20-9 after one.
Following a free throw from Miller, points were rare for almost the entirety of the second quarter. Late in the period, though, after getting CM to foul into the bonus, NR was able to capitalize on some late free throw attempts to close the gap to 28-18 entering halftime.
Opening the second half Molly Schuster opened the scoring the Lions. A few plays later, Alex Pence countered from deep, but afterward, there was more back and forth action that ultimately kept the Lions from ever closing the gap.
This shoot out lasted up until the 2:15 mark in the third when Rylee Long hit a deep three to blow the game wide open and begin a 12-0 run that ran into the fourth quarter and sealed the CM victory.
When coach Crawford was asked for one word to describe this senior class, he said this. “They’re resilient. It’s easy to go and just fold when you’re not playing well. You’ve got four wins. We know we’re better than a four win team, we’ve had some injuries but they keep coming back and they keep working hard. It was good to see that they just kept up their hard work in practice and it’s paid off. I’m happy for them. ”
SUMMARY
Jan 29, 2024
@Brian P. Mudd Court
Clinton-Massie 51, New Richmond 30
CM^20^28^10^13^^51
NR^9^9^5^7^^30
(30) NEW RICHMOND (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Kirk 0-2-0-6, Lawhorn 0-0-0-0, Lil. Hughes 2-0-0-4, Stoffel 0-0-0-0, Kuhlmann 0-0-0-0, Izz. Hughes 0-0-0-0, Steelman 1-1-3-8, Schuster 1-1-0-3, Redmond 0-0-0-0, Miller 2-0-2-4, Catron 1-0-1-3, Gould 1-0-0-2, TOTALS 6-3-6-30
(51) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Myers 2-0-0-4, Bayless 0-0-0-0, Swope 1-0-0-2, Redman 5-0-0-10, Pence 0-1-0-3, Long 0-1-1-4, Bowman 1-3-4-15, Davis 5-0-1-11, Green 1-0-0-2 TOTALS 15-5-6-51
