The 11th-ranked McLennan Highlassies picked up an 81-56 victory over the No. 22 Grayson Lady Viking in Sherman tonight on head coach Bill Brock's first trip back to the floor named in his honor at Grayson College.
McLennan was firing on all cylinders at the start, opening the game on a 17-2 run. Grayson finally found a rhythm and rallied to cut the Highlassies lead to 10, 24-14 with 2:25 to play in the first quarter. The Vikings cut the lead to nine before a Chelsea Wooten jumper made it an 11-point McLennan lead going into the second, 28-17.
A Sephora Kayolo 3-pointer began the scoring for Grayson to cut the lead to eight. McLennan responded with a three-point play from Miannah Little and 3-pointer from Saneea Bevley to push the lead to 14, 34-20. The Highlassies kept the Vikings at arm's length the remainder of the quarter and led 44-35 at intermission.
McLennan opened the third quarter with a 5-0 run including a wide-open 3-pointer from Wooten at the wing and another bucket by Little. Once again, Grayson worked to cut the lead back to 10 before the Highlassies broke the game open. McLennan used an 11-2 run to end the quarter, including a last-second 3-pointer from the corner by Jaydyn Bullard to take the 64-45 lead into the final period.
The Highlassies continued to pour in the points in the fourth, opening on a 4-0 run. McLennan led by as many as 25 in the final period, cruising to the victory.
Little led McLennan with 24 points and Wooten added 19. Bineta Diatta and Jaydyn Bullard scored 17 and 10, respectively.
McLennan: Aysia Ward 0 0-0 0; Chelsea Wooten 6 0-0 15; Miannah Little 10 3-3 24; Saneea Bevley 3 0-0 9; Jaydyn Bullard 2 0-0 12; Bineta Diatta 8 1-2 17; Aniya Williams 1 0-0 2; Bailee St. Romain 1 0-0 2; Totals: 34 4-5 81.
Grayson: Maureen Okoli 3 0-0 6; Sephora Kayolo 2 0-2 6; Divine Lukombo 4 0-1 9; Sonja Schuch 0 1-2 1; Abey Priscilla 6 2-2 14; Diarra Sissoko 4 5-6 15; Fatou Kamara 2 2-4 6; Totals: 21 10-17 56.
3-pointers: McLennan 9 (Wooten 3, Bevley 3, Bullard 2, Little 1), Grayson 4 (Kayolo 2, Sissoko 1); Total fouls: McLennan 16, Grayson 11; Halftime score: McLennan 44, Grayson 35; Record: McLennan 24-3 (13-2).
