Lady Astros hang with but fall to Lady Wildcats 58-49

0

WILMINGTON — East Clinton High School’s girls basketball team kept things close for the better part of the game Saturday against Williamsburg in a Div. III sectional tournament game at Fred Summers Court.

But the Lady Wildcats pulled away in the end for a 58-49 win, thus ending the Lady Astros season.

East Clinton finishes the season with a record of 7-16. Williamsburg advances to the next round and will face Greeneview 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Summers Court.

Despite the loss, Lady Astros’ head coach Steven Gerber said he saw a lot of positives from his squad, not just in this game, but throughout the season.

“The week of preparation really helped us,” said Gerber. “The girls did an excellent job executing our game plan and we certainly had our share of chances to get the win. We moved the ball well, made good passes and kept our turnovers to a minimum. A couple of bad droughts — mid-way through the third period and early in the fourth period really hurt.

“Like I just told them in the locker room, we stayed with the team that won the SBAAC title, and I’m looking forward to our move to that league next year. We have a chance to be not only competitive, but an opportunity to move forward with an experienced group of players coming back for next season.”

The Lady Astros battled the Southern Buckeye Athletic & Academic Conference National Division champions throughout the contest. It was a 16-all standoff at the first quarter break and Williamsburg clung to a 37-35 lead at halftime. It was a defensive struggle in the third period as the Lady Wildcats held a 44-40 lead going into the final period.

There were eight ties in the contest, with the final one coming at 40-40 just before the third quarter expired.

Unfortunately for the Astros, their shooting went ice cold in the final period, as they were limited to just eight points.

Williamsburg’s Emily Brown stepped up in the fourth with seven points as the Wildcats tallied 14 points and pulled away for the victory.

East Clinton loses no graduating seniors, as this years’ varsity squad consisted of five juniors, and five sophomores.

In a losing cause, three players reached double figures for the Lady Astros. Mackenzie Campbell and Paige Lilly scored 11 points each. All of Campbell’s points came in the first half, while Lilly scored eight in the first half.

Lacey Peterman added 10, including four of the Lady Astros’ five points in the third.

Leading scorers for Williamsburg were Jessica Chase with 18 points (14 in the first half).

SUMMARY

February 17, 2017

Div III Sectional

@Fred Summers Court

Williamsburg 58 East Clinton 49

W 16.21.07.14…..58

E 16.19.05.09…..40

(58) WILLIAMSBURG (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Schaljo 1-0-2-2, J. Chase 6-1-5-18, Fisher 4-2-1-11, K. Connor 1-0-0-2, Brown 3-0-3-9, A. Chase 5-2-2-14, Engel 0-0-0-0, L. Connor 0-0-0-0, TOTALS 20-5-13-58.

(49) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) L. Peterman 5-0-0-10, M.Campbell 4-2-1-11, P. Lilly 4-2-1-11, M. Beener 0-0-1-1,K. Durbin 4-0-0-8, B. Davis 3-0-0-6, S. Christian 0-0-0-0, R. Luttrell 0-0-0-0, K. Hall 1-0-0-2. TOTALS 20-3-6-49.

http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2017/02/web1_LOGO-ec-letter-8.jpg

By Bill Liermann

WNJ Sports Writer

No posts to display