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MINFORD — Despite trailing by six points late in the third quarter, the experienced Minford Falcons never wavered on their way to a massive come-from-behind win on Thursday night.
In a matchup that featured Minford and its five senior starters against West and its four underclassmen starters, the game came down to a late run by the veteran Falcons as they held off the talented Senators by a 50-47 final.
CREDT: Erica Fike/SOSA
Minford (12-4, 7-0 SOC) jumped out to a quick start behind seniors Lindsee Williams and Maggie Risner, who combined for all 15 of the team’s first quarter points, and an early 15-5 lead.
“This was really important to us and we knew it was going to be a battle. A fight,” Williams said. “[West] is a tough team. We wanted to get up on them quickly so we didn’t dig ourselves a hole.”
“We always stress to not come out slow,” Risner said. “We’re always a second half team, so we stress before every single game that we need to come out fast and score early. That way, we don’t have to fight back in the second half.”
West (11-7, 3-4 SOC) used the perimeter to chip away at the lead as Ally Buckner and Brayleigh Pistole each connected from downtown. A free throw from Hailey Carver closed the quarter and cut the deficit to 15-12.
The second saw some back-and-forth action. West’s Macey Whisman tied the game at 18-18 with a driving layup at the 4:55 mark and Minford grabbed the lead with a 5-0 run behind freshman Kerigan Davis, whose triple with 3:42 remaining in the half was answered with a corner 3 from Buckner.
“We love Kerigan. She went straight from junior high ball to varsity and that’s a big change with a quicker pace,” Williams said. “She’s really stepped up and showed that she can play with us and against these types of teams.”
A putback from Whisman with 1:57 to play in the quarter tied the score again at 23-23, but a driving score from Minford’s Lexi Conkel gave the Falcons a 25-23 lead at the break.
Williams started the second half with a pair of free throws for the Falcons, before an extended run from West gave the Senators their first lead of the night. Pistole knocked down a long 3 from the top of the arc before Buckner buried another triple with 6:23 to play in the third, giving the Senators a 29-27 advantage.
A stagnant series of possessions was stopped on a backdoor cut and finish through contact by Pistole for an old-fashioned three-point play with 2:36 remaining in the third, putting West ahead 35-29.
PHOTOS: Images from Minford’s win over West
The lead sat at 40-34 with time running down in the third and Minford with possession. The Falcons ran an action to get Conkel a clean look in front of the bench and the senior came through, burying the triple to make it a 40-37 game going into the final eight minutes.
The beginning of the fourth completely belonged to the Falcons, as Williams started the scoring after a feed from Conkel. Davis then grabbed the lead for Minford at the 6:35 mark with an interior score and buckets from Risner and Davis extended the lead to 45-40 with 4:25 to play.
West finally scored with 3:31 left when Carver knocked down a pair at the line, but buckets from Davis and Marlee Pendleton extended the lead to 49-42 with 2:50 to play.
To West’s credit, the Senators never quit, eventually cutting the deficit to 50-47 and gaining possession off of an offensive foul with less than 10 seconds to play.
However, with no timeouts left, the Senators were unable to get a clean shot off and the Falcons stayed perfect in Southern Ohio Conference play.
“We knew what was on the line,” Risner said. “We had to win this game to keep our number three seed in the tournament, which was our goal this season and, also, for the league [title race]. We’re a senior-based team. So we know what we have to do [to win games like this]. We just all had to come together and make the decision that we were going to change things and win.”
West was led in scoring by Buckner’s game-high 20 points as the sophomore pieced together an outstanding game. Pistole added 13 points and pulled down a team-high six rebounds, and Whisman added 10 points to the mix.
Minford was led in scoring by Williams as the Radford commit scored 17 and grabbed six boards. Joining Williams in double figures were Davis with 12 and Conkel with 11 — who also pulled down six rebounds. Risner closed the game with eight points and four assists.
The Senators return to the West Side to host Waverly on Saturday. Meanwhile, things don’t get any easier for the Falcons as they host Warren on Saturday in non-league action.
“We knew coming in that last year, we had the league and we went to play West and lost,” Risner said. “We ended up in a tournament bracket that we didn’t want to be in. This year, in kind of a similar situation, we knew we needed a three seed and we didn’t need a league loss. Those were our goals. We just knew we had to fight hard until we got this win.”
BOX SCORE
West: 12-11-17-7 — 47
Minford: 15-10-12-13 — 50
West scoring: Buckner 20, Pistole 13, Whisman 10, Carver 4
Minford scoring: Williams 17, Davis 12, Conkel 11, Risner 8, Pendleton 2
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