Most roses smell great, just remember when grabbing that rose, it also has thorns.
The Tinora Lady Rams found out the hard way Thursday night in a must win game vs the Lady Panthers of Paulding. The Lady Rams were looking to keep their GMC title hope alive as they hosted the red-hot Panthers.
After dropping their first six games of the season, the Panthers have rebounded to become one of the hottest team in the conference. Winning three straight, six of nine contests, including a win over Hicksville, Paulding entered with a 6-9 record, 2-2 in conference play.
Tinora looking to stay atop the GMC standings came in a bit cold, dropping four of their last seven games. The Lady Rams entered 11-6, 3-1 in the GMC.
A fantastic crowd was on hand as the Lady Rams elementary girls played at the half, the Tinora student section was jammed packed, as well as the Ram pep band on hand to add some extra electricity to the contest.
For a majority of the first half, all was roses for the Tinora Lady Rams, a very balanced scoring output gave the Lady Rams a 10-7 lead over the Lady Panthers after the initial quarter.
The rose began to bloom even more for the Lady Rams in the second quarter as they increased their lead to as many as 20. A full court pressure defense by Tinora head coach Kyle Tietje saw the Lady Rams force numerous Paulding turnovers in the second quarter, grabbing a 31-12 lead with just over under three minutes in the half.
Coach Matt Arellano of Paulding saw his Lady Panthers close the half on a 9-0 run, cutting the Lady Rams lead in half, 31-21, as the teams headed to the locker room.
Janae Pease led Paulding at the half with nine, while the Lady Rams had a balanced attack which saw seven score in the first half, led by Anna Frazier and Emily Harr with six each.
Quarter three saw the Lady Panther chip away at the Tinora lead, eventually trimming the lead to 45-39 after three quarters of play.
Quarter four: A quarter the Tinora Lady Rams would like to erase from their memories. The final eight minutes saw the Lady Panther light up the scoreboard at Tinora, scoring 25 points, outscoring Tinora 25-10. Paulding scored 43 second half points as they pulled away from the Lady rams down the stretch with a 64-55 win.
Paulding started the fourth quarter on fire, between the hot shooting and the pressing D, the Panthers finally grabbed the lead for good over the Lady Rams, 51-50 at the 4:43 mark in the fourth.
The Paulding trio of Janae Pease, Claire Schweller, and Audrey Giesige were the dagger that sunk the Tinora ship. The three combined to score 37 points in the second half in the Panthers come from behind win.
The loss drops Tinora out of the top spot in the GMC down to the middle of the pack at 3-2, 11-7 overall. Tinora is in action next Tuesday at Kalida. Tinora has GMC games with Antwerp and Edgerton remaining.
Paulding improves to 7-9, 3-1 in conference play. Paulding as GMC games remaining with Wayne Trace, Fairview, and Antwerp. The Lady Panthers will be at Continental Saturday night.
Quarter by quarter:
1st: 10-7 Tinora
2nd: 31-21 Tinora
3rd: 45-39 Tinora
Final: 64-55 Paulding
Tinora
Anna Gray 11 points (2 3 pointers)
Karli Okuley 9 points 3 rebounds
Anna Frazer 8 points
Nova Okuley 7 points (1 3 pointer) 6 rebounds
Liv Mueller 7 points (1 3 pointer)
Emily Harr 6 points 4 rebounds
Addison Lee 5 points 5 rebounds
Amanda Meyer 2 points 3 rebounds
Paulding
Janae Pease 26 points (4 3 pointers) 7 rebounds
Audrey Giesige 15 points (2 3 pointers) 4 rebounds
Claire Schweller 15 points (1 3 pointer) 9 rebounds
Makayla Suffel 4 points
Carlea Kuckuck 2 points
Brooklynn Bakle 2 points 3 rebounds
Team Rebounds
Tinora- 28
Paulding- 31
Team Turnovers
Tinora- 18
Paulding- 18
Team 3 pointers
Tinora 5-19
Paulding 7-14
Team Free Throws
Tinora 8-16
Paulding 15-18
JV Score
34-22 Tinora JV now 17-1 – Aaliyah Dombroff with 9 for the Lady Rams
