NORTH MANCHESTER – A quick start and a strong finish Tuesday evening helped Manchester High School’s varsity girls basketball team stay unbeaten. Hosting the Maconaquah Lady Braves in the Three Rivers Conference opener for both squads, the Lady Squires led 13-3 after one quarter of play and later gave up just four points in the final frame. Things got a little sloppy in the middle two quarters, but the Lady Squires still did more than enough to cruise to a 46-24 win and improve to 3-0 on the season. “We had a great start and finish,” said second-year Manchester coach Jacob Everett. “We kind of went through a little bit of a lull in the middle two quarters. I attribute that to them. They switched their defense on us, and it messed us up a little on offense, which then messed us up on defense. It just kind of got us out of sync, which is exactly what you want to do to another team. “We’re still on a learning curve a little bit. We still need to really work on some of our zone principles on offense, moving the ball, flashing, cutting, that kind of thing.” Struggling with turnovers and shooting the ball when they didn’t turn it over, the Lady Braves didn’t score their first points until senior Courtney Campbell made a three-pointer with 57 seconds remaining in the opening quarter. Maconaquah, playing in its first TRC girls basketball game after joining the now 10-team league this year, scored 17 of its 24 points in the second and third quarters. Manchester’s start and finish was just too much for the Lady Braves to overcome, as they fell to 0-2 on the season. The Lady Squires led 13-3 after one quarter of play, 25-11 at halftime and 36-20 at the end of the third quarter. Junior Cierra Carter led Manchester with a game-high 21 points, 13 of which she scored in the second half. Senior Tiffany Johnson, junior Bailey Sewell and sophomore Sydney Day scored five points each in the win, while junior Ellie Milam chipped in with four points. Juniors Drew Thompson and Rae Bedke rounded out Manchester’s scoring with three points each. “Drew Thompson is still out there, I’m waiting for her,” said Everett. “She scored three tonight. She still plays excellent defense and rebounds. She does all the things I want her to do, that’s why she still plays. She’s gonna keep shooting, but Cierra Carter is definitely our go-to player. She was averaging 16 points per game before tonight, so that’ll go up a little bit. She’s somebody we can go to and get a bucket.” Campbell led Maconaquah with 10 points, while junior Kate White scored eight points. Seniors Jenna Fleming and Brianna Humbert rounded out the Lady Braves’ scoring with four and two points, respectively. Maconaquah last had a winning season during the 2007-2008 campaign, when the Lady Braves were 15-6. Since then, however, they have won a total of just 13 games. Manchester won just one game two seasons ago, but bumped their win total up to eight in Everett’s first year at the helm of the program. The Lady Squires are now 3-0 this season, and have won those three games by margins of 31, 16 and 21 points. “Being able to be successful like this really pushes them to come out and want it even more,” said Everett. “Playing Mississinewa Friday will be a really good test. We get two practices before we play them, two days to prepare ... kind of like a sectional.” Mississinewa won its first three games of the season before falling 46-44 Tuesday night to Bluffton, a team Manchester beat 46-30 on Saturday.
MANCHESTER 46, MACONAQUAH 24 Mac 3 8 9 4 – 24 Man 13 12 11 10 – 46 Maconaquah – Courtney Campbell 3 2-4 10, Maddy Turner 0 0-0 0, Courtney Turcheck 0 0-0 0, Grace Hann 0 0-0 0, Kate White 4 0-0 8, Kailyn Koontz 0 0-0 0, Jenna Fleming 2 0-0 4, Aryin Ray 0 0-0 0, Giulia Bruletti 0 0-0 0, Tristyn Koon 0 0-0 0, Kelsey Morgan 0 0-0 0, Brianna Humbert 0 2-2 2. Totals 9 4-6 24. Manchester – Kennedy Fierstos 0 0-0 0, Drew Thompson 1 0-0 3, Tiffany Johnson 2 1-2 5, Ellie Milam 2 0-1 4, Emma West 0 0-2 0, Sydney Day 2 1-2 5, Bethany Collett 0 0-0 0, Rae Bedke 1 1-2 3, Bailey Sewell 2 1-1 5, Erika Kendall 0 0-0 0, Cierra Carter 7 4-4 21. Totals 17 8-14 46. Three-pointers – Maconaquah 2 (Campbell 2), Manchester 4 (Carter 3, Thompson); Fouls – Maconaquah 17, Manchester 13; Fouled out – none; Records: Maconaquah 0-2, Manchester 3-0 JV – Manchester 49, Maconaquah 28 Manchester scoring – Fierstos 20, Collett 9, Day 6, Mize 5, Cave 3, Lauer 2, West 2, Kendall 2 Record: Manchester 2-1
