LEOPARDS SLOWED DOWN BY MATHEWS
By Matt Maher
LIBERTY, OH – It was a slow night in Liberty as the Leopards hosted Matthews in a close contest that ended with the low score of 23-18 in favor of the Mustangs. Both teams seemed like mirror images of each other at times tonight as both teams struggled from beyond the arc and had their issues with fouls.
When you look at the fouls it took less than a minute for Liberty to find themselves on the wrong side of one and sent Ava Clayton to the line where she went 1-for 2 and put her team on top for a short while because Liberty saw Amari Brown and Qumara Watson both find quick buckets to gibe Liberty their first lead. Liberty sat on the 3 point lead for several minutes before Matthews found some momentum from the free throw line again where Marlee Ruiter went 3-for-4.
The Leopards would find more offense than the opposition by finding 5 points to Matthews 2. Kylee Thomas found 3 points with a made free throw and a good 2-pointer as well and Mia Parker found her first 2-points after failing to hit multiple 3’s. Matthews lone scorer would be Clayton. While Liberty’s offensive efforts were more fruitful it still wouldn’t be enough as they trailed 10-9 going into halftime.
These two teams continued to play a tight game in the third where we saw three different lead changes before ending the quarter tied up at 14 points each. Matthews found 4 more points with 2 coming from Katherine Rowan and Clayton. Liberty saw 5 much needed points come from the scoring talents of Thomas who hit 1 of 2 free throws and Brown who found the other 4 all from the field.
Mia Parker would find herself into a little groove in the 4th quarter where she would find the only 4 points for Liberty in the 4th with her first coming from a fantastic blocked pass in the offensive zone that she was able to turn into a beautiful partial breakaway bucket. While Parker started to shine for the Leopards the Mustangs had their highest scoring quarter of the game with 9 points found. Paddock and Brown both found 2 points each while Clayton continued her offensive tear finding 5 points with 2 made 2’s and another free throw.
Both teams had their struggles Wednesday night but that made for a close game that lived up to the hype going into it. Matthews would be the team to end up on top primarily because they were able to make necessary changes to their offense where Liberty continued to make the same plays that failed to produce points. Liberty showed resilience and grit in this close matchup which helped them in this close contest. Matthews will see action next when they host Pymatuning Valley on January 4th at 7:00PM and Liberty will host Champion on January 4th at 5:30PM.
