WILMINGTON — Led by Libby Evanshine, East Clinton opened Div. III sectional play Saturday with a 70-35 win over Blanchester at Wilmington High School’s Fred Summers Court.
Evanshine had 31 points to put the Astros in the second round against 0-21 Cincinnati Taft. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at FSC.
Jayden Murphy gave East Clinton some balance with a 20-point performance. Ainsley Whitaker led Blanchester with 10 points.
East Clinton used a trapping defense and fast-paced offense to set the tone early. Evanshine’s basket kicked off an 18-2 run, highlighted by a defensive effort that included a ferocious block from Kami Whiteaker.
Murphy had a big block early in the second, leading to the first points of the quarter. Neither team was able to put together a decent run.
Evanshine had four straight points among her 12 in the quarter. But Blanchester was not going down quietly. Roy’s old-fashioned three-point play pulled Blanchester with 13 points but Megan Tong beat the buzzer with a three to make it 40-24 at the half.
The third quarter began much like the second, with the teams fighting back and forth. Evanshine began to get hot, scoring 13 of 26 straight points on a big run that would last the entire second half of the quarter. A buzzer-beating midrange gave the Astros a commanding 68-29 lead entering the final quarter of play.
The game entered a running clock situation for the fourth as East Clinton closed out their dominating performance with an easy win, the third this season over Blanchester, whose last win over East Clinton was Jan. 25, 2018, 46-41.
SUMMARY
Feb 11 ,2023
@Fred Summers Court
East Clinton 70, Blanchester 35
B^7^17^5^6^^35
EC^20^20^28^2^^70
(35) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Roy 2-0-1-5 M. Tipton 1-1-0-3 Abbott 1-0-0-2 Gillman 0-0-0-0 K. Tipton 0-0-3-3 Trovillo 2-0-0-4 Davenport 0-0-0-0 Whitaker 5-0-0-10 Panetta 3-0-2-8 TOTALS 14-1-6-35
(70) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Collom 3-0-0-6 Evanshine 14-0-3-31 Whiteaker 1-0-0-2 Jones 2-0-0-4 Murphy 8-2-2-20 Reed 0-0-0-0 Reynolds 0-0-0-0 Rigulin 0-0-0-0 Scott 0-0-0-0 Stonewall 0-0-0-0 Schiff 0-0-0-0 Hadley 0-0-0-0 Tong 3-1-0-7 TOTALS 31-3-5-70
FIELD GOALS: EC (29-68) Evanshine 14-16
3 PT FIELD GOALS: EC (5-20)
FREE THROWS: EC (7-9 Murphy 4-4 Evanshine 3-3
REBOUNDS: EC-30 (Evanshine 9, Murphy 6, Stonewall 4, Jones 3, Whiteaker 2, Tong 2, Hadley 1, Scott 1, Rigolin 1, Reed 1)
ASSISTS: EC-16 (Evanshine 5, Collom 3, Whiteaker 2, Murphy 2, Stonewall 2, Jones, Hadley 1)
STEALS: EC-14 (Murphy 4, Collom 3, Evanshine 2, Jones 2, Tong 2, Hadley 1)
BLOCKS: EC-4 (Murphy 2, Evanshine 1, Tong 1)
TURNOVERS: EC-5
