RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
Macy Pries sure didn’t waste any time Tuesday night against the Leo Lions at the Stardome. The South Adams senior standout needed 19 points to reach 1,000 for her career, and she got them all in the first half to lead the Starfires (2-4) to a 39-23 halftime lead and an eventual 62-42 upset victory.
Everything went right for the Starfires in the opening half. They hit 13 of 25 from the floor and 11 of 15 from the free throw line while playing stingy inside defense, forcing the highly regarded 3A Lions (4-3) to shoot mostly from outside, where they had trouble finding the mark, going 5 of 15 on two-point attempts and four of 13 from beyond the arc.
Pries supplied the most impressive sequence in the half, scoring on the Starfires’ last three possessions of the first quarter, starting with an acrobatic left-handed scoop shot at the 1:01 mark. Just 25 seconds later she Euro-stepped her way in traffic to another layup, and then with three seconds to go she executed a spinning drive on the right side and banked in the shot to give the Starfires a 21-12 lead at the buzzer.
South Adams had jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start the game on a drive by Pries, a bucket inside by Laney Trausch, and two free throws by Liz Gerber. Two more layups by Pries, a three-point play by Trausch (assisted nicely by Pries), and a short jumper by Addie Baker on an out-of-bounds play put the Starfires up 15-7 with 2:16 left in the quarter. Leo battled back to within three at 15-12 before Pries’s quarter-ending flurry.
The Starfires expanded their lead by winning the second quarter, 18-11. Pries scored seven in the period and got solid help from Addie Baker’s six points and Trausch’s five.
The Lions seemed to regain their composure at the start of the third quarter, forcing the Starfires into several turnovers and scoring eight straight points, on threes from Abby Bovie and Emily Cogdell and a fast break layup by Leah Shappell. With the score now 39-31, South Adams coach Wayne Kreiger had seen enough.
“We got off to a slow start the second half,” he said, “but we called time out and tried to put a little fire in our belly, and they came out and did a nice job.”
That nice job started with a three-pointer—the only one of the night for the Starfires—by Liz Gerber from the left corner on an out-of-bounds play. A post-up bucket by Trausch and a free throw by Pries made it a six-point Starfire run, and the lead was back to 14, at 45-31. The Lions would never again get closer than 11.
Six points each from Pries and Baker helped the Starfires double up the Lions, 14-7, in the final quarter to ice the win.
Pries, who ended with 27 points, gave credit to her team for her comeback from a sub-par game against Union City last Saturday, when she scored only eight points. “The difference,” she said, “was a really good team effort. I play better when the team plays better. We just played together. They helped me get those points, and I helped them.”
Pries joins four other South Adams girls in the 1,000 point club, including her sister, Peyton, who reached the milestone last season. Macy said it felt “awesome” to be in that exclusive club with her sister. Lexi Dellinger heads the Starfire scoring list at 1,275. Athena Sherwood and Amy Meyer are the other two players on the list.
Kreiger is proud of Pries’s accomplishment. “She’s a talented athlete, first of all,” he said. “She’s strong in a lot of areas. Physically she can overwhelm smaller guards, and because of the quickness she has, she gets a lot of points from steals. She just has a good overall game at both ends of the floor.”
Kreiger was pleased with the rest of the team too. “Bekah (Patterson) gave us some really good minutes,” he said. “Liz Gerber did a great job on their leading scorer (Leah Shappell). We had a lot of contributors, and that’s what it takes to be successful.”
Baker had a big night with 14 points, and Trausch reached double figures for the second game in a row with 12. Gerber added seven, Emmerson Smith two.
Shappell led Leo with nine. Grace Busch scored eight, Bovie seven.
The Stafires will start ACAC play this Friday at Bluffton. Game time is 7:00 P.M. and the contest will be broadcast live on WZBD, 92.7 FM.