Freshman steals show for Lady Falcons

Josh Hickle, PDT Sports Writer
MINFORD — Just a freshman, Kara Cayton has the task of running Minford’s offense.
The Lady Falcons are in good hands. Playing in just her second varsity game, Cayton made herself known to the rest of the SOC II Tuesday night, scoring 23 points and dishing out eight assists to lead Minford past Northwest 64-61.
Nine of those points came from 3-point range.“It’s a lot of pressure, but I got a lot of people around me that make it easy,” she said. “It’s special to come out and open conference like this. The support around me is just great.”
The Lady Falcons jumped out to a quick start, running out to a 14-5 lead thanks to two Cayton 3-pointers. Northwest came back to cut the lead at the end to 20-15, but a 18-8 run to start the third quarter gave Minford its biggest lead in the game at 38-23. The Lady Falcons would go into half with a 38-26 advantage. The Lady Mohawks turned the tide in the third quarter, outscoring Minford 18-11 to cut the lead to 49-44. That momentum carried over into the fourth quarter, and the Lady Mohawks stormed back to take the twice briefly.
In the end, though, it was Cayton’s clutch free-throwing that stemmed the tide for the Lady Falcons, as she made good on five of six shots for the win. Minford coach Kim Conley described the game as indicative of how her team’s contests should be all season.“I told the kids at halftime that we couldn’t get flat, and we did that in the third quarter,” she said. “I think we showed a lot of character, and Cayton did a good job handling the ball. It was great all-around effort, and that is one great thing about this group. They don’t quit, and they are not afraid to go in there and play.”
Katie Donahoe and Shaye Berry each scored 12 points for the Lady Falcons, adding eight and six rebounds respectively. Mandy Donahoe led the team in rebounding with nine and had five steals. Cayton also had five steals.
For Northwest, four players scored in double figures, led by Katie Jordan’s 16. Kristen Bradshaw and Tracey Ellis had 15 and 14 respectively, and Krista Crabtree had 12. Ellis cemented a double-double with 11 rebounds, and Bradshaw had 10 assists. Crabtree also had eight rebounds. Coach Bob Boldman said he was proud of the team’s comeback after halftime.
“They showed that we are going to play teams 32 minutes from start to finish,” he said. “Our defense came around in the second half, putting a lot of pressure on their shooters, and that is what turned it around for us.”
The Lady Mohawks play host to West on Thursday, and Minford plays host to Wheelersburg.