Louisville Leopards at Massillon Tigers Girls Basketball Highlights 2012

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Massillon 49, Louisville 48

Nae Nae McElroy led the Massillon Tigers with 17 points and made two free throws with 8.6 seconds remaining to give Massillon a 49-48 victory at Washington High School Thursday evening.  Louisville had three players score in double figures: Brianna Libertore with 17, Mackenzie Storlie with 15, and Clara Lemmon also had 10.M

Libertore scored 8 of her game-high 17 points in a track meet of a first quarter.  Her bucket as the buzzer sounded to end the period made the score 20-16 in favor of the Tigers.

Massillon strengthened their lead to 32-20 by opening the second period on a 12-4 run.  The Tigers hit 5 of their 6 three-pointers in the first half marking the third time this season that the Lady Leps have given up five or more triples in a game.  Nikki Thomas had two of those three-balls and scored 12 points on the night for the Tigers.  On the other end of the floor, Louisville failed to make a shot from downtown for the second straight game.  A clear difference that would help decide the outcome.

The hole was double digits at halftime for the girls in blue and white.  But their heart was anything but deflated.  Louisville put on the press and it gave the Massillon offense fits for the entire eight minute period.

Molly Brown scored on a drive to the hole to open up the scoring.  Storlie dished to Libertore for two more points.  Lemmon had a steal and score.  Then finally, Storlie threw a pass from mid-court to a wide open Lemmon who banked it home capping off a 14-2 quarter and giving the Lady Leps a 36-34 lead.

The only problem was eight minutes still stood on the clock.  A Storlie jumper with six minutes to go had the Leopards sitting pretty with their biggest lead of the night at 38-34.  However, Massillon roared back to take the lead with buckets from  Bre Peterson and McElroy during a 6-0 run.  Peterson also hit double figures for the Tigers scoring 10 points on the evening.

A continuation was given to Storlie counting her layup and putting her on the line with her team up 42-40.  She missed the shot and Massillon took advantage as a wide-open Peterson canned a three-ball to put the Tigers back up by 1 on the other end.

Other than a bucket by Libertore, the rest of the points for both teams were earned from the free throw stride.  In the final 1:44 the lead was exchanged four times.  Brown hit a pair of free throws to put Louisville up 46-45 and Storlie also hit a pair to give the Lady Leps a 48-47 lead with just 18.4 to play.

Out of a timeout, McElroy drove to the hoop making seemingly little contact with Libertore who was defending like a statue with her hands raised to the ceiling.  The whistle blew anyway.  McElroy hit her shots.  The Leps threw the ball away on the other end.  49-48 Massillon.

For the Lady Leps, this is their second straight non-conference loss after beating every out of conference foe in last year’s regular season.  The good news though is that it is just that, a non-conference game.  NBC implications were not lost here and the 2011-12 Lady Leopards look to continue their quest for back-to-back titles Saturday at Alliance.

STATISTICS

LEOPARDS: Libertore 7 3-4 17, Storlie 4 7-9 15, C. Lemmon 5 0-0 10, Brown 1 2-2 4, Rice 1 0-0 2, Risaliti 0 0-2 0.  TOTALS 18 12-19 48.

TEAM 3PT: None

TEAM FT: 12-19 63%

TIGERS: McElroy 7 2-2 17, Thomas 5 0-0 12, Peterson 3 3-4 10, Pierce 2 1-1 6, Clark 1 1-2 4.  TOTALS 18 7-12 49.

TEAM 3PT: 6 | Thomas (2), Clark (1), McElroy (1), Peterson (1), Pierce (1)

TEAM FT: 7-12 58%

Team 1-2-3-4-Total

Louisville 16-6-14-12–48

Massillon 20-12-2-15–49

Fouls: Massillon 15-14

Records: Louisville 6-3

NEXT UP: The Lady Leps will next travel to Alliance to take on the Aviators on Saturday, January 7.  JV starts at 12:00, while Varsity follows at approximately 1:30.

Louisville Leopards at Massillon Tigers 2012 Girls Basketball Pictures

JV: Louisville 37, Massillon 9

For the third time this season the Louisville JV squad  held their opponent to single digits.  The Lady Leopards did not allow Massillon to score from the field until there was 26 seconds left in the second quarter.  Hollyann Mullett led the Leps with 11 points, including a 7 of 8 performance from the foul line.  As a team the Leopards made 13 of 16 free throws, while Massillon did not help their cause by making just 1 of 7.  Rachel Zeller also scored 7 points and Emily Nees added 6 for the Lady Leps who improved to 6-3 on the season.

JV PICTURES

JV STATISTICS

LEOPARDS: Mullett 2 7-8 11, Zeller 3 1-2 7, Nees 2 2-2 6, Hmeidan 2 0-0 4, Rankin 2 0-0 4, Bartolet 1 0-0 2, Hupp 0 2-2 2, Noble 0 1-2 1.  TOTALS 12 13-16 37.

3PT: None

TEAM FT: 13-16 81%

TIGERS: Rey 2 0-2 4, Schering 2 0-0 4, Natoli 0 1-2 1, Mahoney 0 0-2 0, Huff 0 0-1 0.  TOTALS 4 1-7 9.

3PT: None

TEAM FT: 1-7 14%

Team 1-2-3-4–Total

Louisville 9-8-12-8–37

Massillon 0-3-4-2–09

Fouls: Louisville 14-13

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