Girls basketball: Harding defense holds Tigers, 54-23

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GALION — The Galion High School girls basketball team dropped a Mid Ohio Athletic Conference game at home on Thursday night against visiting Marion Harding. The Presidents defeated the Tigers by a score of 54-23.

Marion Harding jumped out to a 12-4 lead after a quarter. Justice Steinman-Ross was a force scoring eight points in the opening eight minutes. The Presidents had a pair of opening quarter blocks and were ferocious on defense.

Senior post Natalee Perkins scored the first seven points for the Tigers, who had just nine points at the half and trailed the Presidents 28-9.

“(Perkins) has energy on the floor. She leads us in blocks, rebounds, and points. So, she is definitely our go-to player. When she is out on the court our energy definitely goes up,” Galion head coach Shani Rush said.

Aniya Mitchell posted six points in the second quarter for Harding and Gracey Thompson added four.

Harding really imposed its will on defense in the first half and it didn’t allow Galion to have very many good looks.

Galion scored five points in the third quarter and trailed Harding 41-14. Through three quarters it was Perkins with 10 of the 14 Galion points. Kamarice Jackson scored a pair of buckets for for the Presidents in the third quarter as did Steinman-Ross.

Marion Harding rotated their bench in to finish out the game. In the end, Steinman-Ross led all scorers with 17 points and Mitchell scored 13 points.

“Justice is a good player and we knew that coming in. We tried to focus on her. She’s going to get her points, but I thought we did a nice job (of slowing her down),” said Rush.

Perkins led Galion with 16 points as the senior was everything for the Tigers offense. Cameron Eckert added five points for Galion, nailing a three-pointer in the final minutes.

“We really need some other scorers. Cam Eckert is a freshman and she’s trying to find it. For a freshman coming in and averaging five or six a game is great. We have to find some more scoring,” Rush explained.

Galion (1-2, 0-1 MOAC) has a chance to get back in the win column on Saturday at Clear Fork (3-1, 0-1 MOAC). In a battle of early unbeatens, River Valley (3-0, 1-0 MOAC) handed the Lady Colts their first loss of the season on Thursday by 56-49 count.

Harding (2-2, 1-0 MOAC) will make the always tough trip to play undefeated Shelby (3-0, 1-0 MOAC) on Saturday. The Lady Whippets defeated Pleasant (0-3, 0-1 MOAC) 47-31 on Thursday.

Galion senior Natalee Perkins looks for an open teammate to pass the ball to on an inbounds play against Marion Harding on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. Perkins scored 16 points to lead the Tigers, who lost to the Presidents, 54-23.
https://www.galioninquirer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2021/12/web1_GAL120421_SPORTS_BKG_GHS_MHHS-01.jpgGalion senior Natalee Perkins looks for an open teammate to pass the ball to on an inbounds play against Marion Harding on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. Perkins scored 16 points to lead the Tigers, who lost to the Presidents, 54-23. Brandon Little | AIM Media Midwest

By Brandon Little

AIM Media Midwest

Follow @BrandonLittleSI and @GalionInquirer on Twitter.

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