Brock Netter, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
HILLSBORO — When Saturday’s final buzzer sounded, Kobie Miles’ face told the story.
The senior’s gigantic, ear-to-ear smile was the telling sign that everything Hillsboro has worked for during her four-year career was finally happening.
As the Indians’ lone senior, her teammates wanted to give her a season, and night, to remember. Saturday was the turning of the corner.
With FAC title hopes hanging in the balance, the Indians had an answer for everything that McClain threw at them, creating a first-place tie atop the conference standings with a 53-48 victory over the Tigers.
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA
“This is such a huge win and puts us one step closer to what we’ve worked so hard for this season,” Miles said. “It would mean so much for us to finally put a number on the banner since it hasn’t been done in 25 years, and seeing ours up there would be incredible. The job isn’t done, we still have to beat Jackson in two weeks to get on the banner but this win is special.”
Both teams now sit at 8-1 in conference play. The Indians’ win also snapped McClain’s 22-game FAC win streak, and the program’s 15-game regular season win streak.
Not bad for 32 minutes worth of work.
“It was the biggest game of the year for us. There was so much on the line and I couldn’t be more proud of the girls for how hard they competed,” Hillsboro coach Heather Storer said. “These girls are tough and our schedule throughout the year has set us up to play in a big game like this with conference implications on the line. They earned this win and wanted it.”
Much like this season’s first matchup, Hillsboro (12-5, 8-1 FAC) jumped out to a huge lead as Tylee Davis opened with seven of the team’s opening 11 points, building an 11-5 lead while starting 5-of-5 from the floor.
Annia Young knocked down a pair of shots and Piper Wilkin added a bucket to push the Indians’ lead to 17-9 after the first quarter.
“With McClain playing man defense on us, it allowed us to get out in transition,” Davis said. “We’re a team that’s really good with driving the ball into the lane and kicking it out, so anytime they collapsed, we did a really good job of executing that.”
The Tigers (15-2, 8-1 FAC) began to find their footing, though, behind Paisley Pryor, who scored the team’s first seven points of the second, followed by a 3 from Brie Cummins to cut the deficit to 23-19.
Larah Henson then converted inside, making it a one-possession game, but Miles answered by burying a triple on the other end to make it 26-21 at halftime.
PHOTOS: Images from Hillsboro’s win over McClain
That deep shot from Miles only fueled Hillsboro to open the third on a run. Davis, Young and Ella Jordan all scored to complete an 8-2 run, forcing a McClain timeout as the lead grew back into double digits at 34-23.
“We’ve been able to really grind through our offense over the last month and really work on some things to get us what we want,” Storer said. “McClain is a really tough team and the way they play defense makes things hard, and the final scores prove it. We went 1-for-16 from 3 that first time we played them, and that’s not going to win a game. So we focused more on getting downhill and taking inside shots instead of settling for the outside shot.”
McClain wasn’t dead in the water yet, though.
When Young picked up her fourth foul, it opened some space for the Tigers to continue attacking. They managed to get to the free throw line 12 times, knocking down seven chances.
That, combined with a pair of buckets from Leah Lovett, helped cut the deficit to 41-34 heading to the fourth.
That’s when Young re-entered. While it was a risk to put her back in as their defensive anchor, the Indians rolled the dice and trusted the junior forward to toe the line of making a play while avoiding a foul.
For the most part, that move paid off.
Hillsboro continued to maintain a three-possession lead throughout the frame until Young was whistled for her fifth foul and Pryor split the pair to make it 48-41 with 1:50 left.
Pryor later buried a 3 and Lovett connected on back-to-back shots as the Indians’ lead was cut to 51-48 with 13 seconds left. However, Jordan was fouled and calmly knocked down both free throws to put the icing on the cake.
“We’re a team of 10 girls, and we preach to them all year about how they’re not tired and to keep their foot on the gas. It’s a mental game and they’re such a gritty group,” Storer said. “Annia Young, I couldn’t be more proud of her. She played such a great game and she deserves it. There’s so much work that she puts in during practice and she just does things the right way all of the time. Just an unbelievable game she played and she was the difference maker.
“We’re now one game away from putting 2026 on that banner that hasn’t seen a new number in 25 years, and it would just seal everything that these kids have worked so hard for. When we started as a coaching staff a few years ago, we were 4-19. Since then, we’ve developed and built a winning program. They’re hungry for that conference title, and although there’s still games to play before facing Jackson, this win over our rival means a lot to them.”
Davis finished the night with 16 points and five rebounds, while Young ended with 12 points and eight boards, alongside 11 points from Miles.
For McClain, Pryor finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds while Lovett added 14 points.
Hillsboro returns to the hardwood on Monday at Waynesville for non-conference action, while McClain aims to rebound that same evening at Miami Trace.
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