Mandeville Lady Skippers’ freshman point guard Hannah Tracey turned in a solid performance with a game-high 26 points Tuesday sparking her club to a 54-36 victory over the St. Scholastica Academy Doves in a key District 7-5A contest played in the Doves Nest.

MHS (8-6) remained in first place with a 3-0 district record with the Lady Skippers notching their sixth consecutive victory. SSA (11-9) is 2-1 in district action.

SSA’s Kayleigh Chiasson topped the Doves with 13 points followed by Elly Schoen with 10. Both teams started out slow struggling from the field.

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SSA’s Maggie Helm hit a basket to tie the game at 5-5 with 3:06 left in the first quarter. Following a Mandeville miss, Chiasson hit a short jumper to give the Doves an early lead. MHS’ Kelsey Sparks made a hoop for a 7-7 tie at the 2:20 mark.

SSA’s offense hit the wall during the next few minutes, committing five straight turnovers. Mandeville made the most of it, scoring 11 consecutive points in the final two minutes of the quarter, propelled by Tracey, who reeled off 10 of the 11 points. Tracey connected for two baskets and drained two 3-pointers during the stretch. Tracey spearheaded the Lady Skippers attack pouring in 13 of her points in the opening stanza.

MHS senior Amy Howard scored the other point during the Skippers’ run, splitting a pair of free throws. Howard finished with 15 points.

Tracey said the Lady Skippers were ready since they were going against SSA, a big rival with both teams tied for the district lead.

“We wanted this win really bad to stay undefeated in district. We came in with intensity.

We worked on our press in practice and it paid off,” Tracey said.

Tracey said her team was proud of their outing, putting forth a big team effort. She talked about the importance of being able to score when given the opportunity.

“I used to be just an outside shooter, but I have been working on driving to the basket lately. In high school basketball, you see a lot of man-to-man defense. Being the point guard, I have to be able to beat defenders off the dribble,” Tracey added.

SSA’s Maury Williams made 1-of-2 free throws with just one second remaining, ending more than a three-minute scoring drought for the Doves in the first quarter. MHS held an 18-8 first period lead.

SSA committed seven more turnovers in the second period. Howard pumped in six points in the second quarter for the Lady Skippers, while Tracey added three and Adrienne Myers tallied a basket to give MHS a 29-17 halftime margin.

Mandeville coach T. A. Ricks praised the play of Tracey.

“We did a good job moving the ball and finding the open person. Our pressure defense helped. Our defense is what sparks everything. That’s what wins ballgames for us,” Ricks said.

Ricks said every district game is important, especially coming back after the Christmas break.

“We don’t play games during the holidays. We concentrate on practicing. I try to get the players away from the game so they can come back refreshed,” Ricks said.

Mandeville jumped out of the gate early in the third period running off seven straight points to increase the lead to 36-17. MHS’ Karin Hicks scored on a put back to open the quarter. Howard tallied the next five points on a basket and a trey. SSA’s Schoen put the Doves on the board with 6:02 left in the quarter to stop the run, but the damage had been done.

With MHS leading 40-21, Tracey bottomed out a 3-pointer with 2:20 left in the quarter. SSA was whistled for a technical foul following a call, which went against the Doves. Tracey stepped to the charity stripe, making 3-of-4 to push the Lady Skippers’ lead to 46-21. Tracey dropped in 10 points in the quarter that ended with MHS holding a 51-23 advantage.

SSA tried to mount a comeback, outscoring MHS 13-3 in the final quarter, but it was too little too late. SSA’s Chiasson and Schoen hit for six points each in the period and Allsion Dastugue made a free throw.

SSA coach Micki Andry said it was one of those bad shooting nights for her team and the defense was lacking.

“We had three good practices coming in so I was confident they would play well. We have had a tendency of playing defense on our heels,” Andry said.

Mandeville was able to out rebound SSA.

“We didn’t crash the boards,” Andry said.

“Our rebounders stood around and watched our shooters shoot and didn’t go for the offensive rebound. That killed us.”

MHS made 9-of-19 free throws, while SSA only made 5-of-9 from the line. Mandeville returns to district action today, hosting the Slidell Lady Tigers, while SSA travels to Hammond to battle the Lady Tornadoes.