Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
MAN The Lady Hillbillies jumped out to an 18-point fourth quarter lead and held off a late Cross Lanes Christian rally to close the regular season with a 40-32 win Friday night at the Man Memorial Fieldhouse.
The Lady Warriors fought back from an 18-point fourth quarter deficit outscoring Man 10-0 in the final 7:26, but couldn't come up with enough stops and enough baskets in the final quarter.
Man, which has won two straight games, finished the regular season 7-13 and will look to build on its momentum when they travel to Sherman Tuesday night for the opening round of the Class A Region IV Tournament.
Megan McCoy scored a game-high 19 points to lead all scorers. McCoy scored 12 of her 19 points in the third quarter to help the Lady Hillbillies stretch a nine-point halftime lead to 14 points.
McCoy connected on four 3-pointers in the quarter, his first gave Man a 25-14 lead with 7:17 to play in the quarter. Cross Lanes Christian cut the gap to five, 25-20, after an Eliza Bacchus free throw with 5:06 remaining, but McCoy connected on three 3's to fuel an 11-2 Lady Hillbilly run to close the third quarter and give Man a 36-22 lead after three quarters.
Man, never trailed in the game, jumping out to an 8-2 lead before Cross Lanes closed the gap to five, 10-5, after one quarter. The Lady Warriors pulled to within two, 13-11, on a Sydney Persinger free throw with 4:21 to play in the first half, but Man ended the quarter on a 9-2 run and led 22-13 at halftime.
Jordan Ellison finished with nine points, Persinger had six and Shiloh Ellison had one for the Lady Warriors, who made nine field goals, one of which was a 3-pointer, but shot 13 of 29 from the free throw line.
Zoey Martin had eight points, Braylee Thompson five and Hoosier two for Man. The Lady Hillbillies made 15 field goals, knocking down five triples, and making good on 5-for-9 from the foul line.