by JOHN HOWLEY / sportingpumpkin.com
The wheels fell off the New Hope bus in the third quarter Friday afternoon as a tie game at halftime turned into a 52-24 loss to Mansfield Christian.
The Lady Statesmen and the Flames were facing off in a semifinal of the Ohio Christian School Athletic Association’s state tournament at Ohio Christian University.
Both teams had a tough time getting their offenses going in the first half and the game was tied 14-14 at the break.
Things changed in the second half.
After committing only five turnovers up to that point, New Hope turned the ball over 11 times in the third quarter. Mansfeld took advantage of those mistakes to outscore NH 18-8 in the period and take a 32-22 lead.
“They’re so disciplined in what they do. They know what they do well and they continue to do it,” New Hope coach Brian McCallister said of his opponent. “The third quarter is always their quarter. We’re thin in numbers and we can do things really well for a half or so.
“Someone once said that fatigue makes cowards of us all. That happens, you get tired and you have letdowns.”
New Hope’s struggle continued in the fourth quarter as it went 0-12 from the field and 2-6 from the line.
Part of Mansfield Christian’s edge came in rebounding where it had a 37-28 advantage. Sixteen of those boards came on the offensive end.
“One of the keys was going to be to rebound the basketball,” McCallister said. “We didn’t do a great job early but then once we got tired, it got even harder.”
Maren McCallister led New Hope with 13 points and Jenna Tripp had five.
Raegan Standridge led Mansfield Christian with 13 points, Alexis Rippel had 12 and Kyleah Jones had 10. Standridge also had 10 rebounds and Jones had nine.
Eden Leist led New Hope with nine rebounds and McCallister had six.
The Statesmen have one more game on their schedule as they return to OCU Saturday in the OCSAA third-place game playing Elyria’s First Baptist Christian at 11 a.m.
For those unable to make it to the game, it can be watched online by clicking here.
Mansfield Christian 52, New Hope Christian 24
Mansfield Christian — Zy Davis 1-1-3, Abby Little 3-3-9, Calah Rader 0-1-1. Noelle Beare 0-2-2, Raegan Standridge 6-0-13, Alexis Rippel 4-1-12, Adelle Cramer 1-0-2, Kyleah Jones 5-0-10. Three-point goals — Standridge, Rippel (3). Total — 20-49 8-19 52.
New Hope — Jenna Tripp 1-2-5, Eden Leist 1-1-3, Maren McCallister 4-5-13, Chesnee Hines 1-0-2, Kayla Winter 0-1-1. Three-point goals — Tripp. Total — 7-36 8-14 24.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Mansfield Chr 6 8 18 20 52
New Hope 7 7 8 2 24
