ST. JOSEPH — Chillicothe High School basketball Lady Hornets head coach Karen Jackson may be about ready to give her team the silent treatment at halftime. Not as punishment, but just to try to change the vibe.
Opening Midland Empire Conference play for 2008-09 Friday night at St. Joseph: Bishop LeBlond High School’s Eagle Gymnasium, the Lady Hornets fell prey to a much-too-familiar Achilles’ heel in their third-straight loss, a 56-30 defeat.
Having tussled on nearly-even terms with the favored home club through the first two quarters, Chillicothe
(3-5, 0-1) went to the locker room behind 22-17.
In most cases, a five-point halftime deficit on the road against a favored team would be a cause for hope on the part of the underdog. Continue to keep it close and perhaps the supposedly-better team would start to feel pressured and crack.
Unfortunately for Chillicothe, the only crack was LeBlond splitting the contest wide open in what remains the black hole of ’08-’09 CHS girls’ basketball – the third quarter.
LeBlond smothered the Lady Hornets 16-2 in that stanza, taking nearly a 20-point lead into the final stanza and securing its ninth victory in 11 games this season and a triumph in its return to the MEC after an absence of over 20 years.
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