In two exciting matchups between McCracken County and Mayfield Tuesday night, the Mustangs came away with the sweep, the girls in overwhelming fashion by a score of 55-22, and the boys in the same manner, running away in the second half for the 80-39 victory. With the wins, the boys team remains an undefeated 5-0, while the girls leap over .500 at 4-3. Both Mayfield squads even out at 2-2 on the year.
LADY MUSTANGS 55, LADY CARDINALS 23McCracken took no time establishing dominance, getting out to a 14-0 run, shutting Mayfield out in the first quarter.
Newcomer junior Mason Clements shined off the bench for McCracken, coming in and shooting lights out from behind the three. She led the team with 19 points, 15 of which coming off threes. Head coach Scott Sivills had high praise for the shooter and her ability to stretch the floor.
“The thing about Mason is that she has a scorer’s mentality,” Sivills said. “She has something about her that makes her a really tough player. When she’s open, she has the confidence to shoot the ball. Her ability to stretch the defense allows players like Ava (Hughes) and Lezharia (Bolen) to get down low and score. She gives us that third level of scoring.”
The Lady Cardinals started to settle in early in the second quarter. Lex Feagin drilled a pair of threes, and a couple of buckets by Avery Creason and Sadie Robbins made up their ten points in the period.
Coming out of the half down 30-10, Kendra Winstead came alive for a brief period in the later stages. She scored five in each the third and fourth quarters, finishing with a team high 10 points.
McCracken continued to extend their lead until the final buzzer sounded, holding Mayfield to just 13 second half points. The end score displayed 55-23.
The Lady Cardinals take Wednesday off before retuning to home on Thursday, where they will face the Marshall County Lady Marshals. That game is scheduled for a 7:30 tip-off.
McCracken hopes to use their two-game win streak to fuel their next stretch of games. After facing some tough teams in their early matchups, the Lady Mustangs are up for the challenge as they head to Livingston Central this Thursday in their second straight game facing the Lady Cardinals.
“Anytime you get W’s, it only helps your mentality,” Coach Sivills said. “It makes you come closer together as a team. It makes us look at some things that we’re not doing well in. To go on the road to Henderson, Crittenden, and then Marshall, that’s very tough. It’s made us tougher, mentally and physically, and just overall a better team.”
MUSTANGS 80, CARDINALS 39The way this game started out, every fan in attendance was ready for a battle of the ages, and a physical, tough game without a clear winner. Mayfield were the ones that looked slightly more prepared for this game, starting out playing some lockdown defense.
Gray Robbins opened the scoring up with a three, and netted five of Mayfield’s 11 first period points. On the other side, McCracken couldn’t get a shot to fall, only mustering eight in the first eight minutes.
That ended up being the only quarter the Mustangs did not score over 20 in, and settled in with a barrage of scoring the rest of the way. The second quarter felt like collective effort on both sides, no one player completely taking over the game. McCracken outscored the Cardinals 20-12, and went into halftime with a five-point lead.
“It was just getting the tempo up,” head coach Dustin Roberts said about the switch after the first quarter. “We knew Mayfield would come in here and try to slow the game down and force short possessions, and they had a lot of success with that in the first half. The second half our guys amped it up a little more with that tempo where we wanted it to be at, and that created our separation.”
McCracken came out and outscored the Cardinals 52-16 in the second half. Owen Byrd was doing his best to stop the bleeding, knocking down a three and scoring just over half of his team’s points in the final two periods.
That just wasn’t enough, though, as Jackson Klope and Miles Woodfork picked up their intensity, filling up the stat sheet in the second half. Woodfork finished with a team high 18, while Klope came in just a bucket behind him with 16. Garrett Miller also got involved on the offense, netting 12 points on the day.
Physicality was without a doubt a key for the Mustangs, as they controlled the rebounding battle, and even slammed home some dunks along the way. Miles Woodfork, Jackson Klope, and Aaron Adams all threw down powerful slams throughout the course of the game.
“Our guys did a good job crashing the offensive glass,” Roberts said. “I thought we could have some success there. I thought we played a lot better, and the offensive glass was a big part of that tonight.”
Bird finished with a team high 14 points for Mayfield. Ashton Flint and Gray Robbins followed suit with eight a piece, then Malik Kirby with five. Mayfield takes time to regroup, and will play next Monday against Trinity (Whitesville). That game will be held at McLean County as apart of the Independence Bank Christmas Tournament.
McCracken will participate in 2025 Mac’s Holiday Classic, where they will face Archbishop Alter (OH) at Charles W. Miller Complex in Louisville.