By Jeff Richards
BOYS BASKETBALL
McConnellsburg 54, Southern Fulton 19. On Friday, February 7th, the Spartans visited county rival Southern Fulton Indians for their second of two season Inter-County Conference games. The game started slow but accelerated early in the fourth quarter with a running clock as the Spartans defense had stifled the Indians offense to single digits per quarter while they put up a 35-point winning event.
In the first quarter, the Spartans struggled to find early dominance and grip of recent games and kept the Indians in close range, yet held the lead at 10-6. In the second quarter, the Spartans flipped a switch and scored 15 and held the Indians to two, posting a score 25-8 at halftime. The prior meeting on January 17th was a drubbing event with the Spartans taking a 61-point win, 90-29, dominating the first and second quarters with 28 and 35 points respectively, and holding the Indians to seven at halftime.
The third quarter was a 3 to 1 outscoring by the Spartans – going to the free-throw line four times to convert five of six – with each starter contributing in the highest points scored quarter. Fifteen seconds into the fourth quarter, Hoyt Glenn popped the ball out of Indian’s Parker Oakman’s grip to an alert defending Dom Jefferson, who fed it back to a fast-breaking Glenn and drove it in for a layup. That two points put the Spartans lead at 45-14, invoking the 30-point mercy rule and running clock.
Coach Lowery commented, “Tonight we played our cross town rival the Southern Fulton Indians. We got off to a very slow start due lack of execution on our part. It simply was not a very good offensive night for us. We shot the ball at 13% from the 3, and 43% from 2’s and had 17 self-forced turnovers. Luckily for us our defensive presence was our key only giving up 19 points to the Indians.”
The Spartans put two players in double figures: Brayden Ramsey leading all with 14 points and Hoyt Glenn added 12 points.
This win continues the Spartans’ (19-1 overall, 8-0 ICC South) daunting performance and 19 game win streak and 10th of 30+ points.
With the win, the Spartans also aced the ICC South Championship with an undefeated 8-0 conference record and will play February 14th (time and opponent TBA) at Claysburg-Kimmel High School in the semi-final round for the ICC championship.
MCCONNELLSBURG
Hoyt Glenn 5 1-1 12, Dom Jefferson 3 0-0 6, Brayden Ramsey 5 3-5 14, Shaffer Earley 3 2-2 8, Jake Hann 1 1-1 3, Kohen Hall 3 0-0 6, Karson Washabaugh 1 1-2 3, Ethan Lang 1 0-0 2, Totals 22 8-11 54.
3-point goals: 2 (Glenn 1, Ramsey 1). FTM% 72.7%.
Team stats: Glenn 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 steals; Earley 5 rebounds, 3 steals; Ramsey 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals; Jefferson 2 rebounds, 8 steals; Hann 3 rebounds; Galen Clevenger 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 charge taken; Kohen Hall 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals; Karson Washabaugh 1 rebounds; Ethan Long 1 assist; Noah Jefferson 3 rebounds, Jace Fletcher 1 assist. Totals: 29 rebounds, 10 assists, 25 steals, 1 block, 17 turnovers, 10 team fouls.
SOUTHERN FULTON
Sam Stotler 2 2-2 6, Brooks Norris 4 1-1 9, Villi Ah Loe 1 0-0 2, Parker Oakman 1 0-0 2, Totals 8 3-3 19. 3-point goals: 0. FTM% 100%. Team fouls 15.
McConnellsburg 10 15 18 11 — 54
Southern Fulton 6 2 6 5 — 19
Next Up: McConnellsburg JV/V hosts Forth Hill (MD) for non-conference games on February 10th at 6 PM.
No JV.
Notes: Remaining regular season games: vs Fort Hill (2/10), and at So. Huntington (2/11).
GIRLS BASKETBALL
McConnellsburg 58, Southern Fulton 37. On Friday, February 7th, the Lady Spartans hosted the Southern Fulton Lady Warriors for an Inter-County Conference (ICC) game and got the hat trick of wins. This season, the teams met on January 16th, with the Spartans winning 61-42, and on December 29th, with a Spartans win of 58-33.
In the first quarter, the Spartans outscored the visitors 12-5 with an under-bucket buzzer beater two-fer from senior center Maggie Mellott. In the second quarter, the Spartans again essentially doubled the output of the Indians and at halftime led 25-14. The previous away game the Spartans held a four-point lead at the half, whereas at home demonstrated improvement with a 15-point spread.
In the third quarter, the Indians cut the lead to ten but then the Spartans hit two, the Indians turned the ball over and Serenity Rengifo hit one of her three pointers. After an Indian’s time out, the Spartans got the lead back to 15 at just under four minutes to go. Then the Spartans hit back-to-back threes from Rengifo and Lucy Brun and blew it open to 45-23 to end the quarter. The last quarter was of fairly even, double figure scoring with more bench player rotations in the latter half.
The Spartans (15-6 overall, 6-2 ICC South) were powered by two players scoring double figures: Rengifo leading all scorers with 26, and Journie Jefferson with ten points. The victory is the Spartan’s third over the Indians and by 19+ points, and this season’s 12th double digit win and fifth by 20+ points. The Spartans are averaging 47 points per game (ppg) to opponent’s 41 avg. ppg over their last 21 contests.
The game precursor also featured the Senior Recognition for the Lady Spartan basketball players. Congratulations to the athletes for your dedication to supporting Spartan’s athletics groups.
MCCONNELLSBURG
Maggie Mellott 2 5-8 9, Serenity Rengifo 10 3-3 26, Journie Jefferson 4 1-2 10, Janiah Lowery 2 2-4 6, Lucy Brun 3 0-0 7, Totals 21 11-
3-point goals (Rengifo 3, Jefferson 1, Brun 1). Other stat totals: 48 rebounds, 3 blocks, 11 turnovers, fouls 12, FTM% 64.7%. Team stats: Mellott 12 rebounds, 1 block; Rengifo 8 rebounds, 2 blocks; Lucy Brun 9 rebounds, Buterbaugh 5 rebounds; Jefferson 2 rebounds, K. Gelvin 3 rebounds; Lowery 5 rebounds; Clara Lopez 3 rebounds; Kendall Earley 1 rebound.
SOUTHERN FULTON
A. Johson 2 0-0 5, S. Ah Loe 2 0-0 5, C. Harvey 7 4-7 21, B. Schriever 2 3-4 7, Totals 13 7-11 37.
3-point goals (Harvey 1, Johnson). Other stat totals: 20 rebounds, 10 turnovers, 3 blocks, 12 fouls, FTM% 63.6%.
Southern Fulton 5 9 9 14 — 37
McConnellsburg 12 17 16 13 — 58
Next Up: McConnellsburg girls JV/V will travel to Northern Bedford County (NBC) for their final regular season game, a cross-ICC match, on February 12th at 6 PM. The Spartans’ first meeting with NBC was on December 11th, and a 39-37 win.
No JV
JH: MHS 20 SF 57
Categories: Basketball, McConnellsburg, Southern Fulton
