Sluggish Third Quarter Cost Lady Squires

The Manchester Lady Squires led Mississinewa at the half Friday before going without a field goal in the third quarter in a 35-30 loss to the Indians.

Manchester would grab a 2-0 lead on two Emma West free throws before Mississinewa took a 3-2 lead. Kennedy Fierstos would then drain a three for a 5-3 lead before the Indians scored the last 6 points of the quarter and led 9-5 after one.

Manchester would come out swinging in the second quarter. A Fierstos three, followed by a bucket from Jirni Cripe gave the Squires a 10-9 lead. Trailing 10-11 a free throw from Kiera Hatfield tied the score before an Eva Bazzoni three put Manchester up 14-11. The Squires led 14-13 at the half.

The Lady Squires could not get the lid to open on the rim in the third quarter, getting a free throw each from Hatfield and Kennidy Lauer. Mississinewa out scored the Squires 8-2 to grab a 21-16 lead after three.

It looked as though the Indians were going to run away from the Squires early in the fourth, scoring the first 6 points of the quarter to take a 27-16 lead. Hatfield would stop the run with one of her four three pointers in the quarter. Down 29-19 Hatfield would hit two straight bombs, followed by a bucket from Mackenzie Day to cut the deficit to 29-27 with .50 left in the game. The Squires would start the play the foul game and trailed 31-27 when Hatfield hit from behind the arch for a fourth time, making it 31-30 with 1.5 left. The only option the Squires had to stop the clock was a time out that they didn’t have, resulting in a technical foul in which the Indians made both free throws for a 33-30 lead. The Indians would get the ball with the Squires fouling with 0.2 left. Mississinewa made both free throws for the 35-30 final.

Scoring : Hatfield 14, Cripe 2, Fierstos 6, West 2, Day 2, Bazzoni 3, Lauer 1.

The Manchester junior varsity defeated Mississinewa 35-19.

Scoring : Garriott 15, Shambarger 3, Creager 9, Day 4, Parrett 4

CLICK HERE for photos from the game