Lady Blackhawks take down Lady Jets, 71-31

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By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

UNION CITY — The Mississinawa Valley High School girls’ basketball got their first conference win of the season under their belts on Dec. 1 with a 71-31 home win over Franklin Monroe High School.

Head coach Michael Paige said the whole team played well, even those who normally don’t hear their number called often.

“We had foul trouble with a lot of people, so we played a lot more of our players than we would normally play. We got great production out of our bench and I thought we played really well as a team today,” Paige said.

At least ten different players came in for the Lady Blackhawks during the game.

Mississinawa Valley soared through the first quarter. They jumped out to a 21-12 lead. The defense for the Lady Blackhawks led them to some easy transition points.

Paige said their defense is the identity of this team. They want to create turnovers and turn their defense into easy offense with their pace of play.

On the offensive side, they were able to crash the offensive glass and gain a lot of second chance opportunities.

During the first half, Franklin Monroe started to deal with some injuries. A few players would leave the game hurt and some would not return to the game.

Head coach Zane Shellabarger said the team played well for the adversity they had to face early in the game.

“The girls played hard. I told them I don’t like to lose, but I have no problems with our effort. We came into a pretty hostile environment and I thought their attitudes handled it well. At the end of the day, that’s more important than a basketball game,” Shellabarger said.

At halftime, the Lady Blackhawks were up 41-18. Sophomore Syenna Purdin led the team with 11 points at halftime. After that, junior MaKenzea Townsend took over.

Townsend was able to convert on some of the offensive rebounds she collected and became an offensive threat down in the post. She finished the game leading all Mississinawa Valley scorers with 18 points.

“We’ve been waiting for her to show up for a few games now. That’s the MaKenzea that we see in practice everyday. For her to have that kind of game, hopefully that propels her to the next few games,” Paige said.

It was more of the same in the third quarter. The Lady Blackhawks extended their lead to 61-28.

The Lady Jets did not go down quietly. They continued to fight and found some rhythm on offense.

Freshman Adalynn Hines had a big second half. She scored eight points in the second half of the game. She finished the game with 15 points.

Freshman Eva Shellabarger was second on the team with eight points.

For Mississinawa Valley, sophomore Taylee Woodbury finished second in scoring with 16 points. Purdin finished the game with her 11 points.

Next up for the Lady Blackhawks, they will host Parkway on Dec. 5. For the Lady Jets, they will travel to Houston on Dec. 5.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]

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