By Mark Monosky

The North Jefferson News



Big games from Hayden’s Krista Stricklin and Mallory Ray helped Hayden girls’ basketball team pick up their fifth win of the season over Corner 70-40 Tuesday night.

Stricklin scored 23 points and had seven steals and Ray had 20 points in the victory. Corner star player Nicole Russell did not play in the game.

“Their guards are really good and they gave us a lot of problems,” said Corner head coach Jeff Smith. “We could not handle the pressure they put on us. We really missed Nicole tonight, but it was more about what Hayden did. They played really good.”

In the first two periods both teams were pretty much even in the game. Corner opened the game with a 5-0 run, but Hayden was able to come back. Hayden’s Tiffany Myrick’s seven points helped give the Wildcats the 18-12 lead at the end of the first period.

Hayden was able to pull away slightly in the second period. Scores from Mallory Ray, Madison Durham, and Melissa Stricklin helped the Wildcats take a 30-22 lead into halftime.

“We started off real slow out of the gate,” said Hayden head coach John Simmons. “We only had about two points until about the three minute mark of the first quarter. Then we finally got some inside play and then some of our defensive pressure allowed us to get some lay ups, and that broke the game open for us.”

In the third period Hayden pulled away for good. Led by Krista Stricklin’s nine points the Wildcats went on a 17-4 run in the third period. Hayden went into the fourth period with a commanding 47-28 lead.

The fourth period didn’t fare much better for the Yellow Jackets. Hayden outscored Corner 23-12 in this period. Mallory Ray had nine points in the fourth to help lead the Wildcats to a 70-40 victory.

Melissa Stricklin and Tiffany Myrick led Hayden in rebounds. Both girls had 10 rebounds in the game. Corner’s leading rebounders were Katelyn Geddings with ten, Erin Tingle with six and Mandy Slatton with four.