ROSEMOUNT — Sometimes it’s not about how you start, but how you finish.

In Wednesday’s Southern Ohio Conference Division I girls basketball game between Clay and New Boston, the Lady Panthers started and finished — defeating the Lady Tigers 51-47 to earn their sixth win in 10 games against SOC I opponents.

In the first period, Clay jumped out to an 18-4 lead before the visiting Lady Tigers cut their first-period deficit to nine (18-9).

“We’ve been starting slow. We’ve been working with trying to get faster starts, and we did that tonight,” Clay coach Drew Emnett said, after the game. “That helped us. Other than a couple of times, we took care of the basketball really well. Used to be if you could press us, you could turn us over. We’re getting to the point where that’s not the case anymore.”

A three by NB senior Dylan O’Rourke with 7:35 to play in the fourth quarter tied the game at 34-all and from there, Clay closed strong.

A bucket with 7:23 left in the fourth by freshman Sophia Craft gave Clay a 36-34 lead, one it wouldn’t look back from.

New Boston cut the Clay lead to two points at 47-45 with a bucket by Cassie Williams with 1:45 remaining.

Clay senior Maggie Swayne answered, sinking one of her two three-pointers in the fourth quarter with a minute left to put her Lady Panthers in front 50-45.

Swayne finished with 15 points, just behind sophomore Sarah Cassidy, who led all scorers with 16 points.

“Maggie’s big time. She does a lot for us, we depend on her for a lot of what we do,” Emnett said. “I’d say she’s one of the best players in the SOC I right now.”

New Boston was led in scoring by senior Cadence Williams’ 14 points, followed by O’Rourke’s 12 points and Cassie Williams’ 10.

“They came out hitting shots, we were standing around slow and sluggish like we were ahead,” NB coach Kayla Wiley said, afterwards. “They get up 18-4 and it’s hard to come back from that. Even though we got ourselves back into the game, we were getting tired from having to come back. We kind of beat ourselves early on. Thought we drove the ball well, just couldn’t get to the free-throw line.”

The Lady Panthers would win the final seven-plus minutes by a 17-13 margin to earn a season split with the Lady Tigers — and improve their overall record to 7-8.

With the loss, the Lady Tigers fall to 8-7 (5-5 SOC I).

New Boston will host Notre Dame on Thursday inside Homer Pellegrinon Gymnasium.

“Hopefully they’re ready to go again tomorrow,” Wiley said. “We’ve got Notre Dame (Thursday) who hasn’t lost a game in the league yet. St. Joe and Manchester and St. Joe again next week. Hopefully we get off to a better start. It starts from the beginning, it’s hard to play catch up with as many girls as we have.”

Following their first win over the Lady Tigers since the 2018-19 season, Emnett is hoping his Lady Panthers continue into late January with a strong finish to their regular season.

Clay travels to East on Thursday in SOC I play before traveling to Beaver on Saturday to face Eastern in a non-league contest.

“We’ve just got to keep working,” Emnett said. “All of our girls have bought in — have to keep working, playing defense and doing what we do. Hopefully we can finish the regular season out strong and finish with the best regular season we’ve had in a few years.”

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BOX SCORE

New Boston 9 12 10 16 — 47

Clay 18 9 7 17 — 51

New Boston (8-7, 5-5 SOC I): Julie Maynard 0 0-0 0, Arenda Gosselin 2 1-5 5, Cadence Williams 6 1-4 14, Dylan O’Rourke 5 1-2 12, Brooklyn Boyer 2 0-0 6, Cassie Williams 5 0-0 10; TOTALS: 20 3-8 47; Three-point field goals: 4 (Brooklyn Boyer 2, Dylan O’Rourke and Cadence Williams 1 apiece)

Clay (7-8, 6-4 SOC I): Amadea Everman 1 1-2 3, Sarah Cassidy 6 0-1 16, Maggie Swayne 6 1-2 15, Sophia Craft 5 0-4 10, Morgan McCoy 2 3-5 7; TOTALS: 20 5-14 51; Three-point field goals: 6 (Sarah Cassidy 4, Maggie Swayne 2)

Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 370-0713 ext. 1930, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved