McMasters Celebrates Senior Night With 1,000th Point

Boyd-Buchanan Spoils Party Atmosphere With 50-25 Victory At Grace

  • Tuesday, February 9, 2016
  • John Hunt
Play was stopped during Boyd-Buchanan's 50-25 win over rival Grace Academy Tuesday night to recognize the Lady Golden Eagles' Claire McMasters as she sank the 1000th point of her career at the end of the first period of play. Shown from left to right, are Coach Roger Edwards, Coach Mandy Long, Claire, and Grace Athletic Director Les Compton.
Play was stopped during Boyd-Buchanan's 50-25 win over rival Grace Academy Tuesday night to recognize the Lady Golden Eagles' Claire McMasters as she sank the 1000th point of her career at the end of the first period of play. Shown from left to right, are Coach Roger Edwards, Coach Mandy Long, Claire, and Grace Athletic Director Les Compton.
photo by Dennis Norwood

Tuesday was a special day for Claire McMasters, one that she'll probably remember the rest of her life.

She was one of three young ladies who were honored on Senior Night at Grace Baptist Academy -- the other two being Katie Stead and Ebony Ransby --  and she put an exclamation point on the evening by scoring her 1,000th point to end the first quarter.

Unfortunately, the Boyd-Buchanan Lady Buccaneers spoiled the party and headed back to North Moore Road with a convincing 50-25 victory in the District 5-A contest.

"That was good," said Boyd-Buchanan coach Tracey Walker after her team had improved to 19-5 overall and 5-3 in district play.

"We were a little slow out of the gate, but we sort of got out of our routine with school getting out early today.  I thought our defense was better than it has been and as a whole, we've gotten better.

"We're trying to get some of our other players to step up and take some of the pressure off Marisa (McCalla) and Maddie (Wright).  But I thought we played much smarter in the second half and it paid off with a nice road win," she added.

McMasters scored the first bucket on a layup at the start as Grace opened the game with a 6-0 run.

A 3 from Ransby with 3:55 left in the first extended the Grace lead to 9-3, but the Lady Bucs then responded with a dozen unanswered points to grab the lead while a short bank shot from McMasters at the buzzer drew the Lady Golden Eagles to within 15-11 when the quarter ended.

That was her 1,000th point, so Grace athletic director Les Compton made a special presentation of the game ball to the slender senior during the quarter break.

Unfortunately, not much else went the right way for the Lady Golden Eagles.

McMasters scored the first bucket of the second quarter to get Grace within 15-13, but the Lady Bucs slowly started pulling away and the difference was 26-18 at intermission.

The second half belonged to the Lady Bucs as Maddie Wright opened the third quarter with two buckets before Grace retaliated with buckets from Abigail Smith and Ransby, the last one coming at the 5:42 mark.

By the time Juliana Gonzales bagged a 3 from the wing at the 3:12 mark of the fourth, the Lady Golden Eagles had gone more than 10 minutes without scoring and the visitors had enjoyed another run of 16 straight points to put the game out of reach.

The bucket by Gonzales was the only score for Grace in the final stanza as the Lady Bucs enjoyed a 24-7 scoring edge in the second half.

"I'm really disappointed," said Grace coach Roger Edwards after his team had lost for the 11th time in 18 games.

"We've quit using youthfulness as an excuse, but give credit to Boyd-Buchanan because they played great defense and we just didn't shoot it very well.

"The highlight for us was honoring our three seniors and for Claire to get her 1,000th point.  She's had four incredible years here, but we just have to go back to work tomorrow and try to get better," Edwards added.

McCalla and Wright both finished with double-doubles to lead the Lady Bucs.  Wright had 15 points and 10 rebounds while McCalla had 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Maddie Abed and Meredith Balthrop both had nine points for the Lady Bucs.

Smith was tops for Grace with nine points while McMasters finished with six and Ransby five.

The Lady Bucs also won the battle of the boards by an unofficial 33-29 margin.  McMasters and Smith had eight and seven caroms, respectively, for Grace.

GRACE BOYS 59, BOYD-BUCHANAN 57: Dalton Morrison only scored seven points for the Golden Eagles, but the last two were the most important as he sank both ends of a one-and-one with 17 seconds left in overtime to provide the margin of victory for Grace as they rallied for victory.

The Golden Eagles, improving to 9-10 overall and 3-4 in District 5-A, had trailed by 11 at the half before rallying for the win.

"I challenged them at the half and they responded in a positive manner," said winning coach Jon Mattheiss.

"We changed our defense from a zone to a man and that was a big factor, but we played more aggressive on defense and that helped too," he added.

Senior Jared Roberts was again the leader for Grace as he scorched the nets for 27 points.  Zach Miller followed with nine and Morrison with seven.

Seth Rogers scored 16 points for the Buccaneers while teammates Cooper Hodge and Cade Evans were also in double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

GIRLS SUMMARY

BOYD-BUCHANAN 15  11  11  13  --  50

GRACE  11  7  4  3  --  25

BOYD-BUCHANAN (50) -- Abed 9, Willmore, Parker, A. Taylor 2, Hill, Gardenhire 1, M. Taylor, Balthrop 9, Dawson, Sewell, High, McCalla 14, Wright 15.

GRACE (25) -- Ransby 5, Cripps, Smith 9, Me. Long, Stead 2, Gonzales 3, Ma. Long, Fulgham, Parrott, McMasters 6.

3-POINT GOALS: Boyd-Buchanan 2 (Abed, Wright); Grace 3 (Ransby, Smith, Gonzales).

BOYS SUMMARY

BOYD-BUCHANAN 21  11  11  10  4  --  57

GRACE  15  6  19  13  6  --  59

BOYD-BUCHANAN (57) -- Evans 12, Mullinax 3, Antwine 8, Hodge 14, Kent 3, Rogers 16, Clarke 1.

GRACE (59) -- Morrison 7, Roberts 27, Miller 9, Smith, Blanton 3, Billingsley 4, Lewis 6, Linden.

3-POINT GOALS: Boyd-Buchanan 6 (Evans, Antwine 2, Hodge 2, Kent); Grace 5 (Morrison, Roberts 3, Miller).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

Boyd-Buchanan's Marisa McCalla takes aim over the defense of Grace's Holly Fulgham. McCalla scored 14 points for the Lady Buccaneers.
Boyd-Buchanan's Marisa McCalla takes aim over the defense of Grace's Holly Fulgham. McCalla scored 14 points for the Lady Buccaneers.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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