The Mintz Christian Academy JV girls basketball team continued their season on Friday afternoon with a matchup against one of the top teams in their league, Temple Christian Academy. Against a team considered to be top level competition, The Lady Lions held their own in defeat, falling 36-24.
Temple, regarded as the top team in the CCAA, certainly had a fight on their hands in the first quarter. Mintz took a 7-2 lead over the Lady Tigers in the opening minute and a half of play, though only briefly. The Mintz advantage gradually dissipated throughout the first quarter, culminating in a Temple 12-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter scoring yielded another advantage in favor of Temple, who outscored Mintz 8-6 and contained any attempt of a momentum swing in sporting a 20-14 advantage over the Lady Lions at halftime.
When play resumed, the Lady Tigers dominated the third quarter.
With Mintz only managing two points in the third quarter, the lack of offense put an unfortunate damper in the hopes of a Lady Lions comeback effort. Temple took the 30-16 lead to the fourth quarter and held serve. Mintz outscore Temple in the fourth quarter, 8-6, but it was too little, too late as the game ended in the 36-24 victory for Temple Christian.
“Because of their size, we just couldn’t compete with Temple on the boards,” was how Dan Heinz, head coach of the Lady Lions, tried to diagnose their problems. “I was proud of our girls even though we didn’t win. Hailey Davis and Victoria Marshburn really worked hard to keep us in the game,” Heinz concluded.
Davis lead all scorers for Mintz, recording ten points in the loss. Marshburn followed closely behind with eight of her own.
The victory for Temple elevates the Lady Tigers to 6-0 for the season, while Mintz dropped to .500, sitting at 2-2. The Lady Lions will be back on the court for a matchup on the road against rival Columbus Christian Academy. Columbus stands at 3-1. Game time is set for 4 p.m. Thursday.