Wild finish sends Sheridan girls past John Glenn

NEW CONCORD − Saturday afternoon's Muskingum Valley League clash between Sheridan and host John Glenn featured a pair of clutch last-second 3-pointers to decide the winner.

And that final triple came courtesy of Lady Generals' sophomore Halle Warner, who drilled the game winner with just .05 seconds left in the game for a thrilling 58-55 victory in the Big School Division.

"It's funny, we do late-game situations in practice, and just the other day she hit like the same exact shot," Sheridan head coach J.D. Walters explained. "And everybody went nuts so I think that might have given her some added confidence today in taking that shot.

"She's not known as a great outside shooter," Walters added. "Halle is more known as a slasher to the basket for her scoring. So for her to show the confidence to take that shot shows some tremendous growth as a player just being a sophomore."

Warner's late game-winner, one-upped the clutch shot turned in by Lady Muskies senior McKinzi Linscott, who just seconds before nailed a long distance trey to pull John Glenn into a 55-55 tie with 8.5 seconds left.

"I thought that last shot was challenged by us," John Glenn head coach Gary Sigman offered. "We had our hands up and ran out at her. But give her credit, she hit the shot and they get the win. In that situation, we did not want to bail them out with a cheap foul like in last year's game with them (in the regional tournament)."

Sigman said he wanted his team's defense to stay in front and force difficult a shot.

"And that's what happened," Sigman said. "The Warner girl just came through and hit the shot. It's tough because McKinzi Linscott had just hit a huge shot for us. And that's what we expect from Mac — she always impacts the game. That was a smart play by Mac, they took away our first option in that situation, and she got loose and came open at the top and knocked down a long-distance shot when we needed it."

Through three quarters, John Glenn enjoyed a 42-35 advantage and seemed on the verge of picking up a much-needed win coming off a tough 49-48 MVL loss to Tri-Valley in its last outing.

The Muskies slipped to 1-3 oveall and 0-2 in the MVL-Big playing a tough early season schedule, which also included a nonleague game with Southeast District power Proctorville Fairland.

"I feel bad for my girls. No one should lose a game like that, and that's back-to-back tough losses after the Tri-Valley game the other night," Sigman added. "Our schedule has been rough starting out the year — we have not had any easy ones. All have been against very good teams and I feel we have competed and played hard. Just have not got the results we wanted yet."

In the final quarter, Sheridan finished with a 23-13 scoring edge to post the comeback victory and stay perfect at 3-0 overall and 2-0 in league play. They will meet again on Jan. 30 in Thornville.

"We were able to make the comeback because we were able to force some turnovers in that fourth quarter," Walters said. "Offensively, we executed much better in that fourth quarter, and we got some good looks and knocked down some shots. But the biggest thing was our defensive pressure we were able to put on the ball and get those turnovers."

All-Ohio junior Jamisyn Stinson, who battled foul trouble early in the game, came through with eight points in the decisive frame, including a pair of 3-pointers to lead the charge. Sophomore Ava Heller added six and, of course, Warner's game-winner.

John Glenn led most of the game, with leads of 9-8 after the first quarter and 28-22 at halftime.

The bitter loss offsets another solid effort from John Glenn super sophomore Mya Oliver, who continually penetrated the Sheridan defense to get to the hoop and finish consistently. Oliver finished with a game-high 21 point performance, including a 9-of-11 effort from the charity stripe.

"Mya is just taking that next step with her game," Sigman said of his stand-out sophomore. "She played a heck of a game today. She is so good at getting to the basket then finishing. And she draws that contact and makes you pay by knocking down her free throws."

Sigman recognized sophomores Jessica Church and Riley Zamensky, along with junior Madeline Winland for their solid efforts in the game.

"I though Jess Church played a heck of a defensive game on Stinson, she made it rough on her," Sigman explained. "I thought Madeline Winland did a great job on Saffell holding her to five points, she's been scoring pretty good for them. Riley Zamensky is not 100 percent healthy yet, this is just her fourth varsity game after missing all last year with an injury. And she's doing a good job, and only going to get better and better going forward."

Church finished with 13 points, while Zamensky added 11 markers with Linscott putting up five for the Lady Muskies in the tough loss.

Sheridan was paced by Warner with 16 points, Heller chipped in 15 and Stinson finished with 14 to keep the Lady Generals unbeaten on the season.

Another exciting finish decided the JV match-up with Sheridan taking a 37-36 victory with sophomore Addi Shaeffer connecting on a pair of foul shots with no time showing on the clock. Shaeffer was fouled on a last second shot attempt to earn the final free throws.

Dylan Fox led the Lady Generals with 12, Shaeffer finished with nine, Hallie Layne added eight and Mylie Forgrave chipped in with seven. John Glenn (1-3) was led by sophomore Addison Paisley with 15 points, freshman Alaina Sigman added 11 points in the loss.

NEXT − John Glenn travels to Meadowbrook on Wednesday at 6 p.m., while Sheridan treks to Warren next Saturday, December 10th at 2 p.m.

kstutton1@gannett.com; 1-330-806-5692.

Meadowbrook 50, Morgan 28

MCCONNELSVILLE − Junior Karly Launder poured in 23 points and junior Kenli Norman chipped in 15, as visiting Meadowbrook used a 31-point second half to pull away for a Small School victory.

The Lady Colts (2-1, 1-1 MVL) led 13-3 after one quarter, as Norman had eight points, and the Lady Colts were up 19-11 at the half. Launder scored nine in the third to extend the cushion to 34-21 entering the final eight minutes.

"We are very good defensively," Meadowbrook head coach Chris Miles offered. "And are now shooting the ball at a much higher percentage from the field. Doing a good job of creating some offense from our defense as well."

Myleigh Williams scored 12 to pace the Lady Raiders (1-4, 0-2 MVL).

Morgan reserves won 38-30, as Myka Augenstein had 10 points and Blair Clawson added eight. Emma Webster led the young Lady Colts with 16.

NEXT −Meadowbrook will host John Glenn on Wednesday at 6 p.m. with JV action.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Wild finish sends Sheridan girls basketball past John Glenn