McKinney Boyd weathered a resilient effort from their cross-town rivals Friday night, but in the end, the Lady Broncos outdistanced McKinney for the 57-51 home win.

"In our district, everything is important, every win is," said Rochelle Vaughn, Boyd head coach. "Right now we're trying to catch those who're ahead of us and McKinney was ahead of us. We're trying to get to the playoffs, trying to do the best job we can do."

McKinney (13-12) falls to 2-3 in 10-5A while Boyd (11-15) improves to 2-3.

"We just didn't do a very good job of handling the pressure," said Debbie Harris, McKinney head coach. "The things we pride ourselves on doing well we didn't do very well tonight and we can't afford to do that."

Senior Julia Hendrieth scored a team-high 15 for Boyd to help power the team to the win.

"[Hendrieth is] our battery, she makes us go," Vaughn said. "She's a very high energy player. She rebounds, she puts the ball back, she plays with a lot of emotion, so I think she had a great game for us."

Also contributing for the Lady Broncos was junior Haley Carruthers, who scored 13. On McKinney's side, junior Mariah Mitchell led the way with a game-high 16, followed by 14 from junior Mika Stutts.

"The last few games Mika's played she's been pretty consistent offensively; she's been a pretty good shooter for us," Harris said. "That's good for her and her confidence and our team needs that. She's one of our best outside shooters, so I was glad to see it."

Sophomore Krissy Fontillas and junior Jazsmin Nelson also had key contributions for McKinney with each scoring nine as the Lionettes nearly had four players in double digits.

"We're much better when we have several of our kids scoring instead of one or two, so that's definitely something we emphasize," Harris said. "I don't think we have a problem getting an opportunity to score, it's just in the first half we couldn't get anything going. You can't expect to play two quarters like that and expect to win."

Turnovers and missed shots plagued McKinney early as Boyd jumped out to a 9-3 lead, with seven of those points coming from Hendrieth.

"In our first couple of possessions, I felt we were shooting ourselves out of the game," Harris said. "It was because we didn't have any patience. That then leads to some frustration and we start turning the ball over and it snowballs."

The Lionettes kept things close, though, as the Lady Broncos took an 11-9 edge into the second frame. Carruthers would then score Boyd's first five points of the quarter for the 16-9 advantage.

"Haley, for us, she's a mental leader," Vaughn said. "I want the ball in her hands and I think her teammates want the ball in her hands. She did a good job of stepping up for us."

The Lionettes ended the quarter on a high note as Mitchell weaved past several defenders and drove the lane for a layup as time expired in the half to get McKinney to within 23-16. Mitchell continued her momentum, sinking another layup and then a jumper to start the third, cutting McKinney's deficit to 23-20.

The two teams then traded baskets, going through several lead changes in the one-possession game. A pair of free throws from Hendrieth gave Boyd the 39-35 advantage heading into the final frame.

The Lionettes refused to go away.

A Fontillas free throw tied it up at 41-41 midway through the fourth, but Boyd opened things back up as a 3-pointer from junior Natalie Maina gave the Lady Broncos the 52-47 edge in the final minute. Mitchell's ensuing layup cut it to 52-49 as the Lionettes began to foul to stop the clock. Carruthers made both of her free throws to put Boyd's lead back up to five with 35 seconds remaining.

More fouls and free throws followed as Boyd outpaced McKinney at the end for the 57-51 victory.

"I'm new to this rivalry here in McKinney, but it's intense and I think the girls wanted it really bad," Vaughn said. "It was a team win tonight. Everybody chipped in when they got to play, so that was good for us."

McKinney will host Plano Senior on Tuesday while Boyd travels to Plano West. Tipoff for both games is 6 p.m.

"I hope they take away that every night we have to bring it," Vaughn said. "If we do that, we'll have a chance to win, a chance to beat anybody we play."

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