Gallery by Heather Belcher
Hico – Monday night inside the John Flournoy Center, the postseason stakes were high between Midland Trail and Shady Spring in the opening round of the Class AAA Region 3, Section 1 tournament.
Win or go home.
After struggling with youth and injuries during the regular season, the home-standing Patriots put it all together and lived to see another day, beating the Tigers 52-43.
Midland Trail advances to the semifinal round to meet No. 1-seed PikeView Wednesday in Gardner.
“We have been getting better. We finally have people in the right places. In our press offense, I have changed people around, tried several different combinations and the kids have played hard every game,” Midland Trail head coach John Mark Kincaid said. “It was a good scrappy game. We have played twice this year and they were both very competitive games.”
Trailing by two points early, Shady Spring took a four-point lead on a pair of baskets from Kendra Pizzino and a score inside from Megan Hendrick.
Over the final four minutes of the opening quarter, however, the Patriots took control and never trailed again.
A pair of triples from freshman Raelyn Morris and a buzzer-beating runner from Rumor Barnhouse were part of a 13-2 eruption from Trail giving it a 17-10 lead after one quarter.
Having lost point guard Addy Isaacs earlier in the year to a knee injury, Kincaid was forced to put more offensive responsibilities on Morris and Barnhouse.
“That freshman is special. Right now Raelyn is doing a great job. She has more ball-handling responsibilities than I really wanted to give her, but with injuries, she has had to step up and handle the ball,” Kincaid said. “Same with Rumor. They are both really good shooters on the wing, but they have had to step and handle the ball.”
The ball-handling duties failed to slow down the scoring duo who hit big shots all night to keep the Tigers at bay.
A 3-ball from Morris and another runner to beat the buzzer by Barnhouse gave the home team a 30-22 lead at the break.
Shady moved within four points just two minutes into the third period before Barnhouse turned a long rebound into a layup.
Undaunted, the Tigers kept charging and ran off five straight points.
Kendall Lilly knocked down a baseline jumper ahead of a layup from Pizzino off of a turnover.
When Austyn Barnes split a pair of free-throws, Shady Spring was within one point with 5:15 to play in the third quarter.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, back-to-back long balls from Morris and Barnhouse stemmed the tide and quickly pushed the lead back to seven points.
“We had our chances. They hung in there and they fought,” Shady Spring head coach Tabitha Barnes said. “They didn’t quit on me and kept trying. I thought they played the best they had played all season.”
A 3-pointer from Pizzino and two free throws from Kylee Barnes pulled the visitors within two points, but Morris once again had the answer for Trail.
Gathering a rebound along the baseline, the freshman standout dropped a jumper and then hit a dagger 3-ball with 53 seconds left in the quarter.
Trailing by seven points going into the final quarter, Shady could get no closer than four points down the stretch.
“We never could seem to get it back. It was like it took the air out of us there,” Barnes said about the third quarter. “I tried to make some adjustments and change the defense some, but we couldn’t make it work for us. We were taking care of business on one end, but couldn’t make it work on the offensive end.”
Leading by six points with two minutes to play, Trail’s youth showed in some careless turnovers, but the Patriots were able to withstand the heat by making plays on defense.
“We seem to panic sometimes when we don’t have to. A lot of the turnovers are young kids that are new to varsity,” Kincaid said. “Inexperience can be painful, but getting some experience and getting the win is good thing.
Barnhouse was six-for-six from the line down the stretch to preserve the win for Trail.
Morris led all scorers with 19 points and Barnhouse had 17 points. Megan Hendrick led Shady with 12 points, while Pizzino and Kylee Barnes added 10 points each.
The Patriots now turn their attention to PikeView who beat them twice during the regular season by double-digits.
“We will play hard and do what we can. PikeView is a fine team and is well coached. (Head) coach (Tracy) Raban does a great job and I have a lot of respect for her,” Kincaid said. “They play hard and are very fundamental. They are big inside. I thought we played good defense on them last time, but they just played volleyball inside on us.”
The clash with the Panthers is set for 7 p.m.
SS: 10 12 14 7 – 43
MT: 17 13 13 9 – 52
Shady Spring
Megan Hendrick 12, Austyn Barnes 7, Kendra Pizzino 10, Kylee Barnes 10, Kendall Lilly 4.
Midland Trail
Raelyn Morris 19, Nevaeh Hall 6, Jayla Barnhouse 5, Maddie Harrell 2, Rumor Barnhouse 17, Whitney Bibb 3.
