After losing on the road to Division I Westlake earlier in the week, the Lady Fliers bounced back with a couple wins in the friendly confines of Nancy E. Hangar Gymnasium.
Last Thursday at the Hangar, the Lady Fliers rebounded with an impressive 65-49 win over Sandusky St. Mary Central Catholic. The opportunistic Lady Fliers used strong defensive pressure to create plenty of scoring chances.
From the outset, the girls took care of their basketball business for Clyde coach Dave Lozier. Morgan Bannister and sophomore Heidi Marshall dominated the first quarter with six and seven points, respectively, on way to a 21-12 quarter lead.
“Bam-Bam” blitzed the net with five treys in the first half to give the blue and gold a commanding lead they never relinquished. Flier fans saw a great team effort to gain good looks on offense and pressure the Panthers into turnovers.
Though the Lady Panthers played hard throughout the final two quarters, the damage early created a scoring deficit they could not begin to makeup. After a check of the scorebook was done, the cause of the Panther woes was apparent in the three point difference.
Clyde had eight 3-pointers — Bannister with six and Marshall with two — while St. Mary only managed one.
The junior varsity Lady Fliers waltzed to yet another win, 37-18. It was their 17th win in 18 tries.
Madison Bannister, Morgan’s freshman sister, scored nine points while point guard Alayna Barrera added eight.
Like the varsity game, the Lady Flier JV team used five 3s to build the large margin of victory. The girls needed the 3-pointers for at the charity stripe they were only 6-of-18.
Fliers trip up Redskins
For quite a few years, Port Clinton has had its share of setbacks to Lady Flier teams.
Though visibly frustrated by the drought, Coach Toby Bickell’s Redskins came to play Saturday night against the girls in blue and gold. Accepting the challenge, Clyde scored its 12th win of the season by defeating Port Clinton, 52-40, at home.
After a good effort from both teams left the Fliers on top 11-7 after one quarter, the Fliers once again used a very fine second quarter and 18 points to take command by halftime, 29-18.
Heidi Marshall’s 30-footer swished through the nets at the buzzer to cap off the scoring spurt by halftime. The All-SBC point guard continued to play well offensively by attacking the gaps and defensively by asserting her quickness leading to several Redskin miscues.
Her aggressiveness led to eleven free throw attempts and eight points. She ended up with 17 points.
In addition to Marshall’s leadership, Bree Dowling had a good individual game with several boards and a game-high 18 points. Defensively, the always pesky hustle from Melissa Laconis helped the Lady Fliers agitate the Lady Skins for most of the night.
“I thought it was a good team win,” Flier coach Dave Lozier said. “I thought Port Clinton really came to play us, and our girls responded nicely to their aggressiveness.”
The Lady Fliers attacked the basket better than Port Clinton, which relied on the talents of Sydney Alexander (16 points) and Bethany Urbin (14) to try and stay somewhat close to the Fliers.
Clyde went to the line 33 times and made 20 to Port Clinton’s 11-of-16 at the charity line. The blue and gold outscored PC 12- 3 on 3-pointers.
The Fliers now only have two remaining games in the regular season.
The Clyde JV also won, 29-22, making them 19-1 on the season.
