Lady Squires Win 3rd Straight
31 Jan 2008

The Lady Squires basketball team won its third straight game last week, taking care of Triton 47-34. Manchester improved to 6-12 on the season with the win.
Triton led early, taking an 8-4 lead at the end of the first period, and held on to a 19-16 halftime lead.
But, just like their last game against Rochester, the Lady Squires exploded in the third quarter, outscoring Triton 18-6 in the period to lead 33-25 after three quarters.
Jessica Bedke and Audrey Johnson both hit three pointers in the fourth quarter, while Becka Guthrie hit 4-4 from the line, and Laci Welches hit 2-2 free throws to give the Lady Squires a cushion in the 13 point win.
“We had a great second half both offensively and defensively,” Manchester coach Mark Underwood said.
Kyla Zile led a balanced Manchester scoring attack with 10 points and added four rebounds. Johnson had eight points, Katie Bowers had seven points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and five steals, Guthrie had six points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals, Noelle Patrick had six points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals, Welches had three points and four rebounds, Bedke had three points, while Amber Fratus and Julie Seifert both had two points each.
Loss To Tippecanoe Valley
Tippecanoe Valley came into their game with the Lady Squires with an 8-9 record, but with losses to 1A #1 Oregon Davis, 2A #7 North Miami, 3A #1 Wawasee, and 3A #2 Elmhurst, their record is deceiving.
Manchester found out how good the Lady Vikings are, falling to their TRC rivals 53-38.
Despite the 15 point loss, Valley coach Gary Teel was impressed with Manchester.
“Mark (Underwood) does a good job with his team,” Teel said. “They’ve improved a lot. It was senior night, and you know they were going to give an A+ effort tonight.
“His kids did a good job of playing the passing lanes. They played an uptemp game, and we tried to get the kids to slow things down a bit and play the mode we needed to have,” he continued. “They made two nice runs at us, but I think we responded well to those runs.”
Carrie McLain got things started for Manchester, with an inside basket, but Valley went on a 12-2 run to take control early.
The Lady Squires cut the lead to seven points, but the Lady Vikings had an answer to almost every Manchester basket.
With Valley leading 25-14, Laci Welches scored on a three point play, and a Gurthrie free throw cut it to 25-18 at halftime.
The Lady Vikings responded by opening the half with a 7-2 run, and extended the lead to 36-22 midway through the third quarter.
Manchester made another run at it, with Welches hitting a free throw, followed by a basket from Guthrie and a three pointer from Patrick to make it 36-28 with 2:21 left in the third.
Valley answered with six straight points to lead 42-28 early in the fourth.
Back to back baskets from Bowers and Guthrie made it 42-32, but Valley scored five straight to make it 47-32.
The Lady Squires gave it one more run, with Johnson hitting 2-2 free throws, followed by baskets from Patrick and Bowers to cut the lead to 47-38 with 4:21 left in the game.
Valley, however, clamped on the defense, and didn’t led the Lady Squires score again, pulling away with a 53-38 win.
“It was a tough one out there,” Underwood said. “We are a few inches shorter, and have a little less muscle at every position, but I thought the effort was there.
“I thought the girls battled hard,” he added. “You want to win, but you have to look at the whole picture, and if they’re working hard and doing their best, you can’t really be too disappointed.”
Patrick led Manchester with 11 points and four steals, while Zile had six points, four rebounds, and two steals.
Guthrie had five points, Bowers had four points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals, Welches had four points and five rebounds, Julie Seifert had four points and three rebounds, Carrie McLain had four points, and Johnson added two.
The Lady Squires will be at South Adams on Thursday to wrap up the regular season. They drew the bye in the Manchester Sectional, which begins next Tuesday, and will face Wabash in the second game on Friday.