In their best three-point shooting performance of the season, the McCracken County Lady Mustangs completed their season sweep of district opponents with a 76-25 win over St. Mary.
Senior Skater Houser paved the way for the Lady Mustangs with 21 points off seven made threes, six of which came in the first half. Junior Mason Clements added four triples of her own, as the team totaled a season-high 15 threes in the win.
“With 15 threes, if you can shoot like that, chances are you’re going to win,” McCracken head coach Scott Sivills said following the victory. “To see Skater and Mason shoot well like that in the field, that was very promising. I’m glad to see them do that tonight. They both have been in the peaks and the deep valleys of shooting this year. I’m so glad to see them come out and have a game like that tonight.”
The Lady Mustangs wasted no time gaining a huge advantage over St. Mary, as Clements buried her first two threes in the first minute, a part of a 17-0 run to open up the game.
Houser, who was shooting 19.4% from three before this contest, had an incredible first half and specifically second quarter. She started burying three after three on consecutive possessions in the second, climbing her way up to five 3-pointers in the period and six in the half. McCracken went into the halftime break shooting 10-14 from behind the arc, holding a 46-12 advantage.
“That’s big time. It’s huge for us to get a good start and see Mason hit those back-to-back threes,” Coach Sivills said. “Then to see Skater come off the bench and hit seven, five in the second quarter, that’s huge.”
The second half was miler compared to the first, as Houser added another three and Ella Shelbourne and Anna Hammond each hit a pair to make up the five second-half threes for McCracken. They never allowed St. Mary to hit double digits in a single quarter, and finished out the game on top 76-25.
Alana Thomas and Annabelle O’Neill led the Lady Vikings with eight apiece, Audrey Sims just behind them with seven. Freshman Kenzie Herrmann rounded out the scorers with two.
Houser led the team with 21, Anna Hammonds burying a pair of threes late as a portion of her 13 points. Clements netted 12, and LeZharia Bolen finished with eight.
Now riding high off one of their best offensive performances of the season, McCracken has just five games left in the regular season schedule. With the number one seed in the Second District locked up, this final stretch will be a final opportunity to improve in hopes of making a deep postseason run. Coach Sivills is optimistic his team will carry over the momentum and shooting performances into this final stretch.
“This makes the next game feel even better,” Sivills said about the impact this shooting performance will have. “I’m hoping we carry this over against Murray tomorrow night. To see them do that creates a lot of confidence. We just keep talking about ‘see one go through,’ and I thought they did that tonight.”
McCracken, now 18-7, has a quick turnaround when they go on the road to face Murray High on Tuesday, with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m. After that, they will return to their home court on Thursday with a matchup against Carlisle County.
With the loss, St. Mary snaps their four-game win streak, but still sits just over .500 on the season at 12-11. They cap off their three-game district stretch at Paducah Tilghman on Tuesday, before returning to the Holy Hardwood this Friday against Ballard Memorial. Both of those games are scheduled for 6 p.m.