Hook scores 24 straight as Lady Raiders upset Panthers

MCCONNELSVILLE, Ohio – The Maysville and Morgan girls basketball teams both came into the 2020-21 season with high expectations for themselves. The Panthers got off to a slow start with two early losses, but have since rebounded and came in to tonight on a four game winning streak.

For the Raiders, their season got off to a slower start than any other team in the area. Literally. The Raiders were the final team to begin their season after multiple quarantines caused their opening game to be delayed for nearly a month.

Once the season started, you could say that to this point, it has been a bit of a disappointment. The Raiders were early favorites to compete for the MVL Small School championship, and while they’re still only a game behind first place New Lexington, the team has struggled in crossover games against the Big School division. All of the pieces seem to be there for the Raiders, but they just haven’t seemed to be able to put them together and compete with the big teams.

On Thursday night, longtime MVL girls powerhouse Maysville came to town, and the Raiders had the opportunity to show that they can compete with the big boys.

Bailee Smith, two days removed from becoming the all-time career scoring leader in Maysville history, started off the game with her usually mix of acrobatic lay-ins through traffic and step back three pointers, and the Panthers sprinted out to a 16 point lead in the second quarter.

After starting the third quarter trailing 27-15, the Morgan Raiders turned on the jets.

The Smith sisters, Odessa and Sophia, both picked up their play on both sides of the ball, not only by scoring, but by generating scoring opportunities for the rest of the Raiders as well as a 12-3 run brought Morgan within a point.

What happened next will go down as one of the greatest performance in Morgan basketball history.

Junior Katie Hook scored the final eight points of the third quarter for Morgan to put the Raiders in front 37-36 after three.

Hook then scored all sixteen of Morgan’s points in the final quarter.

Her 31 point performance helped the Raiders pull off one of the bigger upsets of the girls basketball season thus far, and the Raiders are back to over .500 on the season.

FINAL: MAYSVILLE 48 – MORGAN 53