JAY – By this point last season, Liz LeBlanc’s season had ended.

A back injury put her out of action before the basketball season had barely begun for her and her Jay Tigers.

A year later, the senior guard/forward is thrilled to be playing basketball again, and her team is equally excited to have her.

“I only played three games last year,” said LeBlanc, whose back injury kept her inactive until late into softball season.

LeBlanc scored a game-high 24 points Monday to lead the Tigers to a 42-35 win over Mt. Abram. It was a battle between two of the top teams in the Mountain Valley Conference and two of the premier players, LeBlanc and Mt. Abram’s Kenni Norton.

“This is huge, especially after losing to them three times last year, including a loss to them in the prelims in overtime,” LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc scored eight points in the second quarter, including all six during a 6-2 run that put the Tigers up 19-13 at the half.

Jay extended the lead into double digits before the Roadrunners battled back in the final quarter. LeBlanc added nine in the fourth and finished with nine rebounds and six steals.

“We challenged her a little bit,” Jay coach Chris Bessey said. “I think she’s a legitimate Player of the Year candidate in our conference. The fact that she didn’t play last year might hurt her a little bit. So this was a statement game, especially in a game against Kenni. I think she made a statement that she should be thought of as a candidate.”

Jay also received contributions throughout the lineup. Bessey rotated eight players regularly. That was an advantage against the Roadrunners that played just seven players, had two starters foul out and three others with three or four fouls.

Beth Moore added six for the Tigers (3-1) while Mallory Bonnevie and Hillary Deane chipped in five and four respectively. Mt. Abram got 19 from Norton, 10 coming in the final quarter. Kylie Rolbiecki and Mikayla Burbank each added five.

Mt. Abram (2-1) was plagued by turnovers and poor shooting early. The Roadrunners had 16 turnovers in the first half and shot just 5 for 26. Jay’s defense was relentless and had the Roadrunners out of sync for much of the first half.

“We wanted to be able to press,” Bessey said. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t lose Kenni and didn’t lose Mikayla. We were really concentrating on them. We came in saying that when they had the ball, we wanted eight eyes on them.”

Mt. Abram still stayed close for much of the first half, but LeBlanc opened up the lead with her spurt late in the half. She hit a short jumper to make it 13-8. After a Macy Ryan basket and Rolbiecki free throw cut the lead to two, LeBlanc put back a rebound. Norton answered with a hoop, but LeBlanc hit a foul shot and finished off the half with a 3-pointer in the final seconds.

“I haven’t really been shooting too well, and I just needed the confidence,” LeBlanc said.

Jay upped the lead to 10 in the third on a jumper by Alexis Blodgett and two LeBlanc free throws. A hoop by Beth Moore closed out the third with a 29-19 lead.

Mt. Abram finished strong and rallied. The Roadrunners’ press forced 11 Jay turnovers. Mt. Abram got within five twice in the final quarter. Both times LeBlanc answered. She drilled a 3-pointer with 4:47 left to make it 34-26. After a Betsy Gemelli free throw, she put back a rebound and hit two free throws to make it 39-29 with 1:28 left.