MAN - With two games left until sectional tournament action, Man girls basketball coach Tonia Ward has to like the way her team is coming together.

Anxious to atone for their last meeting with the Iaeger Lady Cubs, the Man Lady Hillbillies placed three players in double figures as Man defeated Iaeger 51-47 Monday night at the Man Memorial Fieldhouse.

Man defeated Iaeger 6739 in the first round of the Mollette/Murphy Tournament at Gilbert High School on December 7, 2006, but 11 days later Man was defeated by the Lady Cubs 48-46 at Iaeger High School on Dec. 18.

Malorie Keffer led Man with 12 points and Marlena Frye and Paige Stacy added 10 points for the Lady Hillbillies. Man has won four of-five since dropping a 49 45 decision at Williamson on Jan. 18 to improve to 10-10 on the year.

"We were sluggish the first half, a lot of the times we start off sluggish and then we just had to get it in gear and hit a few shots that brought us back into it," Man coach Tonia Ward said. "Offensively we weren't real solid tonight, but we started to move the ball a lot better and keyed in on some people that slowed them down a little bit."

Man trailed 33-28 with 1:34 to play in the third quarter, but Frye knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers in a 30-second span to give the Lady Hillbillies a 34-33 lead with 0:37 remaining.

"Marlena made a couple of 3's that really helped us a lot," Ward said. "We played sluggish in the first half, but we just had to get it in gear and hit a few shots that brought us back into it."

Tabby Johnston hit a jumper with 14 seconds to play in the third quarter to give a 36-33 lead. Man would deny Iaeger a look at 3-pointers to tie the game as three-point advantage into the fourth quarter.

Iaeger would tie the game at 36-36 and again at 38-38 in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Hillbillies responded with a 9-0 run to take a 47-38 lead and Pad to hold off a late rally by the Lady Cubs.

Iaeger's Laura Auville was fouled hard by Man's Courtney Browning and had to leave the game. As Auville was sitting on the bench, she was hit with a technical foul by the official for inappropriate language.

Dakota Roberts made one of-two free throws to bring Iaeger with eight at 47-39 with 1:56 to play, but Man's lone senior Kristi McCoy knocked down both technical free throws to give the Lady Hillbillies their biggest lead of the night at 49-39.

Iaeger would not go quietly as the Lady Cubs outscored the Lady Hillbillies 8-2 in the final 1:56, but -the 10-point deficit was too much to overcome as Man escaped with the 51-47 victory.

Stacy helped Man jump out to a 15-11 lead after one quarter as she scored 10 points in the opening frame as Keffer added the other five for the Lady Hillbillies.

Iaeger scored the first nine points of the second quarter to take a 20-15 lead, but Man responded with a 7-0 run with a basket from McCoy, a 3-pointer from Keffer and a layup from Browning to regain the lead at 22-20 with 1:39 to play before halftime.

Iaeger tied the game at 22-22 on a pair of free throws from Danielle Short, but Mari scored the final four points of the first half for a 26-22 halftime lead.

Kayla Muncy led Iaeger with a game-high 15 points while Sarah Addair just missed double figures with nine points while Ashley Gibson scored eight.

Bethany Jestus and Roberts scored four points each, Short had three and Auville and Terri McCoy scored two each.

Iaeger made 18 field goals, including four 3pointers, but shot 7-of-19 from the foul line. The Lady Cubs have lost five-of-eight to drop to 13-7 after starting the season 10-2.

Keffer's 12 led Man while Frye and Stacy finished with 10 each to join Keffer in double figures. Johnston had seven and Browning six. McCoy scored four in her final game at the Man Memorial Fieldhouse. Eboni Monroe rounded out the scoring with two points for the Lady Hillbillies.

"Kristi McCoy played great defense in her last home game," Ward said. "I think this game could have gone either way tonight."

Man made 19 field goals, including three 3-pointers while shooting 10-of-20 from the foul line.

Man will close out the regular season with a pair of road games at Van on Wednesday and at Big Creek on Thursday.

"We would like to finish the season 12-10 so that is what we are working on right now and then we will worry about sectionals next week," Ward said. "We really need to beat Van Wednesday night to come in on a strong note for the sectional tournament because we play Gilbert on Tuesday the 20th."

Man 47, Gilbert 41

Man picked up a 47-41 victory over sectional rival Gilbert Friday night at Gilbert High School.

The Lady Hillbillies got off to a slow start leading 85 after one quarter of play and 20-19 at the end of the first half, but outscored the Lady Lions 27-22 in the second half for the six-point victory.

Kirstin Brown scored 24 points to lead all scorers for Gilbert. The Lady Lions got seven points from Crystal Lester and Megan Thomas while getting three from Keasha Browning.

Gilbert made 15 field goals, including three 3pointers, but was 8-17 from the foul line

Marlena Frye led Man with 15 points while Tabby Johnston just missed double figures with nine points. Malorie Keffer scored eight points as she failed to score in double figures for the first time this season. Courtney Browning had five points; Paige Stacy had four while Kayla Bowens, Eboni Monroe and Rebecca Vance scored two points each.

Man made 13 field goals, including four 3-pointers, but shot just 17-of-32 from the foul line.