When halftime was over in Friday night’s District 6-AA girls’ high school basketball game at Red Bank, the Lady Lions who were starting the second half had to hustle onto the floor to prevent Tyner from inbounding and getting an easy basket. But although coach Bailey McGinnis pushed the time allotted for her halftime talk to the limit, it couldn’t have been more beneficial.
The Lady Lions trailed the entire first half except for a tie at 2. Other than the first 32 seconds of the third quarter, they led the entire second half and solidified their hold on first place in the district by defeating the Lady Rams 42-37.
Red Bank (12-8, 8-1) now has a two-game cushion over Tyner (9-11, 6-3), which gave the Lady Lions their only district loss.
“I don’t like putting pressure on them,” McGinnis said of her players, “but this is the point in the season where everything matters. I think they stepped up big.”
Tyner remains in second place, but three teams entered Friday’s play tied for third in the loss column with four. Brainerd and Central are among those teams and are two of the three district opponents left on the Lady Rams’ schedule.