Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Howland’s Alyssa Massucci fires off a 3-pointer during the third quarter at Ursuline. She scored 21 points in Howland’s win.
YOUNGSTOWN — Howland’s contest at Ursuline was everything it was billed to be, a mid-December showdown between two of the area’s better teams and seniors.
Lily Scott and Alyssa Massucci went toe-to-toe and notched big time numbers for their respective teams, but when the dust settled, the Tigers walked away with a 52-50 win in a hard-nosed game with plenty of fouls.
With 5:06 left on the clock, Howland (4-1) trailed 48-40, but a slew of key buckets along with clutch defense helped the Tigers overcome and achieve.
Massucci tallied 21 in her team’s winning effort while Scott scored 28 off of four three-pointers for the host Irish.
“Lily Scott is a stud. You can tell her dad is a coach. All of the credit to her, she’s fun to watch. Her and Massucci put on a show tonight,” Howland coach Aaron Pounds said. “There wasn’t a real change in the game plan. We decided to pick it up full court man to man, a lot of coaches will tell you this court is bigger than other courts so we were a little hesitant to do that.
“Down by eight with a little over three minutes to go, what do you have to lose? The girls responded, the result is what it is. Alyssa can miss five shots in a row, (but) the moment she gets the ball the next time, she’s firing. Her confidence is never shaken.”
Massucci scored the first five points of the contest to help pace Howland to a 19-14 lead at the end of the first period, and she kept making just enough buckets to keep their distance from Ursuline.
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Complementing Massucci’s performance was Barrish with 10, and Horo added seven points. Carpenter tacked on 11 for Ursuline, sophomore Carly Casey posted six points by way of two three-pointers.
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