Continuing her outstanding senior campaign which has already seen her surpass the 1,000 point mark for her career, Manchester’s Morgan Johnson poured in 34 points to help lead the Lady Hounds to their third win of the season, a 49-46 overtime win in Ripley on Saturday, Feb. 6.

In one of the team’s best efforts of the season, the Lady Hounds rallied in the fourth quarter behind Johnson’s heroics and some stellar defense from a group of freshmen. Johnson hit a pair of fourth quarter three-pointers, totaling 12 of her team’s 14 points as the two teams went to overtime deadlocked at 43, after the Lady Jays missed three shot opportunities in the final seconds of regulation.

In the overtime period, the Lady Hounds did not score a single basket from the field, scoring all six of their points from the free throw line, with freshman McKenzie Smith going 1 for 2 and Johnson hitting 5 of 6 as visiting Manchester held on for the 49-46 win. For the game, the MHS senior guard hit 16 for 18 from the charity stripe.

With the victory, the Lady Hounds completed their regular season schedule with a record of 3-18 and now will direct their attention to the sectional tournament, where they open play on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Manchester will face number six seeded Sciotoville East in a 8 p.m tip off at Northwest High School.

MHS 8 17 4 14 6 —49

RHS 2 15 17 9 3 —46

MHS (49): White 3 0-0 6, Smith 1 2-5 5, Johnson 8 16-18 34, Hobbs 1 0-0 2, Stamm 1 0-2 2, McFarland 0 0-4 0, Team 14 18-29 49.

RHS (46): Kirk 1 0-0 2, Arnett 5 1-2 13, Abbott 1 2-2 4, Prater 3 0-0 8, Daulton 4 1-4 10, Gilkerson 3 1-1 7, Dragoo 1 0-0 2, Team 18 5-9 46.

Three-Point Goals:

MHS- Smith 1, Johnson 2

RHS- Arnett 2, Prater 2, Daulton 1

Manchester senior Morgan Johnson (12) scored 34 points on Saturday night to help lead the Lady Hounds to a 49-46 overtime win at Ripley.
https://www.peoplesdefender.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Johnson-1.jpgManchester senior Morgan Johnson (12) scored 34 points on Saturday night to help lead the Lady Hounds to a 49-46 overtime win at Ripley. Photo by Jennifer O’Neil Smith