Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
GREENFIELD — Larah Henson has experienced her fair share of basketball’s ups and downs.
But she has never felt what she felt on Saturday afternoon.
With McClain and Hillsboro tied at 37-37 with just 2.3 seconds left on the clock, Henson etched her name into the Tigers’ history books.
After receiving the ball near her own bench, the sophomore pump-faked to beat a defender and drove the baseline towards the basket.
Henson’s first shot hit everything but the net. But, with three Indians surrounding her, she worked to get into position to grab her own rebound and got a put back to fall that sent a jam-packed crowd into an absolute frenzy.
“I knew I had to take the last shot because I knew I couldn’t get it back to any of my teammates,” Henson said. “I did a ball-fake, hoping someone would jump and they did. I just drove in and the first shot didn’t go in, but I got my own rebound, so that was good. It was really cool. I’ve never done something like that before.”
Henson’s game-winner handed the Tigers a 39-37 victory and secured the outright FAC title, the program’s first since 2020 and 12th overall league championship.
“We came out so hard today,” McClain’s Paisley Pryor said. “We knew what this game was going to be and we prepared so well for it. To be outright FAC champions now, that just means so much. We just have to keep pushing. We’re looking for that Gold Ball.”
Pryor certainly had her fingerprints on the win as well.
The sophomore produced a game-high 15 points — reminiscent of the Tigers’ first win over Hillsboro this season, a 51-49 final on Dec. 22 where she scored a game-high 23.
“This summer, we didn’t really know what to expect,” Pryor said. “We were all new and none of us had really ever played together. We came in at like 7 every single morning and lifted, and that was every day for us. Now that it’s paying off, it’s just so rewarding. We deserve this.”
McClain (19-1, 9-0 FAC) shot out of a cannon to start, seizing a 7-1 lead after the first quarter and receiving scores from Henson, Pryor and Brenna Wright.
Defensively, they held the Indians (16-3, 8-2 FAC) to 0-of-10 shooting.
“We knew that we had to stop [Hillsboro’s] Tylee [Davis] and Kyra [Boyd] because they’re pretty good,” Henson said. “So we had them on face-guarding. We just knew we had to really talk when we were guarding everyone else. That’s a team that has a lot of shooters.”
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
As cold as Hillsboro was in the first, momentum shifted in the second.
Pryor scored four straight points to polish off an 11-1 run with 7:02 to play. But that’s when the Indians woke up.
Davis scored at the 6:52 and 6:36 marks before Peighton Bledsoe followed suit with 6:15 remaining, following a turnover. Bledsoe scored again with 5:44 to go and when Dinah Ames dialed long distance at the 3:28 mark, Hillsboro had a — somewhat unbelievably — 12-11 lead.
Bledsoe added another score before Kobie Miles got a runner to fall with 1:44 to go, finishing a 15-0 run and giving the Indians a 16-11 lead. McClain regathered and ended the half with back-to-back scores from Pryor and Anna Eikenberry, producing a 16-15 count at the break.
“Our motto, we always say, ‘Don’t quit.’ That’s definitely what we did today,” Pryor said. “We got into a press [in the second half] and that just gave us a lot of momentum. And the crowd, that brought a lot. We just knew that it wasn’t over and that we could fight back.”
That’s exactly what McClain did, but it didn’t happen initially.
Boyd gave Hillsboro a 19-17 lead with a 3-ball early in the third before Ella Jordan got hot. The Indians’ freshman scored time and time again, pacing Hillsboro to a 31-21 lead with 1:16 remaining — following an old-fashioned three-point play.
That’s, however, when the tides slowly started to turn for good.
With Hillsboro leading 34-25 early in the third, Pryor nailed a 3 with 6:06 left, which was followed by back-to-back scores from Henson, making it a 34-32 count with 3:46 remaining. Henson scored again at the 2:01 mark and Pryor gave the Tigers a 36-34 lead with 1:46 to play — finishing an 11-0 run.
Miles hit two free throws on the other end before the two teams split a pair on each side, producing a 37-37 tie with under a minute left. Henson took matters into her own hands from there, hitting the game-winning shot with just 2.3 seconds remaining.
“[Henson] missed that first shot, but she finished as she went up and put it back in,” McClain coach Shanie Massie said. “That’s what it takes to be a great player. She knew the score and the situation. I couldn’t be more proud of her and all of these girls.”
Statistically, Pryor added five rebounds and three assists to her game-high 15 points while Henson finished with 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Hillsboro’s scoring sheet was well-balanced with Jordan and Bledsoe each finishing with nine points. Jordan added eight rebounds to her totals as well. Miles also chipped in with eight points and Davis, despite an early exit, totaled five points, four rebounds and four helpers.
While the Indians try to rebound on Monday at Wilmington, the Tigers will be in action that same night, hosting Logan Elm. Then, on Wednesday, McClain hosts Miami Trace and will have the chance to polish off a perfect record in conference play.
“We’re trying to get the Gold Ball,” Henson said. “I think that’s something we can accomplish. And, hopefully, we can make a tournament run.”
BOX SCORE
Hillsboro: 1-15-15-6 — 37
McClain: 7-8-10-14 — 39
Hillsboro: 13-33 FG, 7-15 FT, 4-9 3pt., 21 rebounds (Jordan 8), 23 turnovers, 9 assists (Davis 4). Scoring: Jordan 9, Bledsoe 9, Miles 8, Davis 5, Boyd 3, Ames 3.
McClain: 14-40 FG, 8-17 FT, 3-14 3pt., 25 rebounds (Henson 9), 22 turnovers, 9 assists (Pryor 3). Scoring: Pryor 15, Henson 14, Wright 4, Lovett 4, Eikenberry 2.
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