FAIRLEA- After a slow start in the first quarter that looked like the magic of the Greenbrier East Lasy Spartans was coming to an end, they controlled the rest of the contest from the second quarter forward and got a big 60-42 win over the Grafton Lady Bearcats on Saturday night, Feb. 10.
With the victory, East capped a perfect 3-0 week and has now won 14 of their last 15 games with the lone loss by a mere six points to a Logan team that will probably be in the state tournament.
The Spartans (17-4) got down in this one 18-12 after one quarter and it was the Bearcats Hadley Horne that caused that early deficit. She finished the quarter with 12 points and the Grafton defense was keying on Kennedy Stewart to the point where it was easy to see what their defensive game plan was coming in.
Then, in the second quarter, the Spartans opened up an 8-0 run fueled by Stewart and a Sandy Banton 3-ball. A few minutes later, Ava Workman scored nine consecutive points for East as the Spartans built a 29-24 lead at the halftime break.
The Spartans continued to open things up in the third and went on an 11-4 run to extend their lead to 40-28 with 4:00 left in the quarter.
The Bearcats (13-8) then began to cut into the Spartan lead with the play of Kenna Keener, who is their leading scorer on the season. She scored underneath and hit the boards hard that kept her team in the contest.
But just as Grafton seemed poised ro make an actual comeback, the Spartans caught fire one final time. Hannah Fuller had a couple baskets underneath, Mackenna McClure was hustling all over, and Jada Walker got a couple late scores to wrap the game in East’s favor.
Easy shot just 36 percent but they forced Grafton into 28 turnovers which led to some runout scores for the Spartans.
Workman and Stewart mirrored each other as both girls had 18 points and 5 steals apiece. McClure scored 11 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
It is hard to believe, but the Spartans have just one regular season game left, this Tuesday, Feb. 13 at home against Elkins. It will be senior night for the Lady Spartans and three cheerleaders.
