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McKenzie Closes Out Regular Season

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McKenzie basketball teams closed out their regular season this week hosting a girls-only contest against McEwen due to an earlier postponement due to COVID-19 and played their last regular season road game at Camden before hosting Houston County for Senior Night.

Lady Rebels 60, Lady Warriors 31
McKenzie hosted McEwen in a girls-only district game which went lopsided from the start. The Lady Rebels raced to a 22-0 lead before McEwen scored on a free throw with just under a minute to play in the first period.

The second period was a little more competitive with the Lady Rebels outscoring McEwen 18-12 to post a 40-13 lead by halftime.

The third period was more of the same with the Lady Rebels outgunning the Lady Warriors 18-10 posting a 58-23 lead heading into the final period before putting the game away 60-31.

Three Lady Rebels led the way in double figures with Mikaela Reynolds nailing 18 points mostly in the first half. Savannah Davis had 14 and Kylie Reynolds had 11 points. Briley Auvenshine added five points while Dani Dyer had four points. Katie Chesser and Hannah Dillingham had three points each for the Lady Rebels while Madison Gilbert chipped in two points.

McEwen was led by Amberlee Hankins and Ashton Davidson with eight points each along with Kellie Jo Hankins with six points. Lexi Davidson had four points while Abby Harrington had three points and Alicia Villaruell chipped in two points for the Lady Warriors.

Lady Rebels 75, Lady Irish 68
What started out as a slow low scoring game in the first half of the opening period turned into a three-point shoot fest with both teams combining for 26 three-pointers. Houston Co. hit 14 and the Lady Rebels nailed 12.

It was 7-6 McKenzie with a little over four minutes left in the opening period when the three-pointers started landing as the score went to 17-11 in favor of McKenzie over the next minute and a half. It was 22-18 at the end of the first period.

The Lady Rebels extended that lead to 27-21 in the first two minutes of the second period but the Irish answered making it a 30-29 contest with three minutes left in the period. The two teams swapped three-pointers in those last three minutes with McKenzie holding a 37-34 lead at the half.

The Lady Rebels barely outscored the Irish in the third period 17-15 but still had a 54-49 lead heading into the final period. The two teams swapped leads early in the fourth period but the Lady Rebels took the lead back for good in the final three minutes securing the 75-68 win. The win gave the Lady Rebels the regular season district championship and they will be seeded first heading into the district tournaments this week.

Savannah Davis led four Lady Rebels in double figures with 24-points followed by Briley Auvenshine with 15 points and Madison Gilbert with 14 points while Mikaela Reynolds had 10 points. Senior Dani Dyer added nine points in her last regular season game while Katie Chesser nailed a three-pointer for the Lady Rebels.

Houston County was led by Karlie Stinson with 19 points while Halie Brooks and R’Shontae Kizer had 14 and 13 points respectively along with Josey Gant with 13 points. Tess Gillespie added six points while Kennedy Jones chipped in three points for the Lady Irish.

Rebels 53, Irish 48
Just like the girls game, the boys got off to a slow start with a 2-2 score after the first four minutes of the first period. Both teams got hotter in the last half of the period with McKenzie taking a 13-9 lead by the end of the first period.

They both battled back and forth in the second period with the game tied 17-17 with three minutes left in the half. There was no scoring at all for two-three minutes during the period. The Rebels took a 24-22 lead into halftime.

In the third period, they continued to battle back and forth to a 31-31 tie with five minutes left in the period. The Rebels took a 36-35 lead with three minutes left and held on to the lead 40-37 heading into the fourth period.

The Rebels opened a 43-39 lead in the opening two minutes of the final period but the Irish came back to tie it 43-43 with five minutes left to play. With both teams playing tough defense, points were hard to come by as McKenzie reached a 49-45 lead with 1:30 to play. Houston County nailed a three-pointer to make it 49-48 with just over a minute to play. The Irish were forced to start fouling and the Rebels took care of business at the free-throw line as Stafford Roditis hit 4 freebies with less than a minute to play to secure the 53-48 win.

Bryson Steele led the way for the Rebels with 18 points while Tate Surber had 10 points. Marquez Taylor had nine points including five important points in the fourth period. Stafford Roditis added seven points including a three-pointer and four free throws in a close fourth period. Senior Zayden McCaslin had four points while Zach Aird and Bryant Haynes had three and two points respectively for the Rebels.

Houston County was led by Conner Conwell with 13 points followed by Clayton Mitchell and Andrew Meadow with 10 points each. Kollin Hibler added eight points while Jerison Hankins and Logan Medders had four and three points respectively.

The Rebels and Lady Rebels earned the regular season district championship and first seed in the district tournaments this week.

McKenzie announced Friday morning that they would open district tournament play at home Tuesday, February 15 with a doubleheader against Big Sandy. If they win, the two teams will be in district championship action at McEwen with the Lady Rebels playing at 6 p.m. and the boys at 7:30 p.m.