WHITE SULPHUR SPGS- The Greenbrier East Lady Spartans were riding high entering the Battle for the Springhouse tourney as they were in the midst of an impressive 10-game winning streak including a tough win over Oak Hill on Wednesday night while missing three players in the process.
However, as we all know, some good things must come to an end, and that was the case inside Colonial Hall on Friday night, Feb. 2 when the Logan Lady Wildcats defeated Greenbrier East 58-52 in a heartbreaker for the host team.
The term heartbreaker is used a lot in sports, but in this game, it is rather justified.
The Spartans (13-4) came out like their hair was on fire in the first quarter. Jada Waller drained a long 2-point jumper, Mackenna McClure hit a 3, and Kennedy Stewart followed with a 3 of her own. It forced Lady Wildcat coach Kevin Gertz into a quick timeout and the 14th year head man was not happy with his team. But none of that fazed East. McClure grabbed an offensive board and scored, Waller hit another shot, and Stewart also scored off an offensive rebound. At that point, East led 14-3 and it looked as if the game was going to be over quickly.
But not so fast.
Some kind of switch immediately flipped for Logan soon after. Addyson Amick got a layup inside and Halle Crouse swished a left-wing 3 and Logan had trimmed the Spartan lead to 16-8 after one.
Then, the Wildcats (9-8) controlled almost the whole second quarter. Payton Butcher scored to open it, then Amick hit some free throws followed by a corner 3 from Ava Albright. A bucket from Bam Mosby and a Crouse 3 gave Logan a 21-16 lead and a 13-0 run. The gym was stunned at the sudden turn of events.
East’s Ava Workman broke the run with a trifecta until Jayden Meade hit a 3 of her own and the Wildcats had settled down and were ready to go. Logan ended the first half with a mini 6-0 run and led 30-21 at halftime. Biggest stat of the first half? From about the 3-minute mark of the first quarter until halftime, Logan outscored the Spartans 27-7.
East came out in the third quarter with a plan and that was to get the ball inside to Hannah Fuller. Fuller, who was one of the missing players in the Oak Hill win, answered with a good stretch where she scored the team’s first seven points of the half. Eight straight points then from Waller gave East a 36-34 lead with a minute left. Crouse answered with a 3 and Amick hit a jumper at the buzzer as Logan led 39-38 heading to the fourth quarter.
With the Spartans down 51-45 with 1:40 left, Workman hit a jump shot that made the score 51-47 with 1:30 left in the game. Fast forward a few possessions later with Logan ahead 54-49, it was Workman again, this time with a right corner 3-pointer to cut the Wildcat lead to 54-52 with 39 seconds remaining. However, Crouse went to the charity stripe four times in the next 30 seconds and made all four of her attempts and left East with no time left on the clock as Logan escaped with an upset victory.
The Spartans shot just 33 percent from the field while Logan hit 44 percent.
Waller led East with 13 points. Workman had 12 points and 4 steals, Fuller had a nice game with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and McClure added 10 points and 6 boards. Stewart was held to just 6 points as Logan followed her around on defense closely all night and executed their defensive game plan against the sophomore sharp-shooter to perfection.
Crouse led the Wildcats with 22 points. Amick added 11.
East will play Saturday, Feb. 3 at 3:00 PM against Mingo Central who lost to North Marion in the tournament’s opening game.
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