Winning is starting to become a familiar theme with the Greenbrier East Lady Spartans after two more good wins over the weekend.
East defeated the Mercer Christian Lady Cavaliers 70-34 and the John Marshall Monarchs 46-43 in a defensive battle.
After a pedestrian-like first quarter against the Cavaliers, the Spartans really turned it on in the second quarter.
Allie Dunford ran the point position to perfection and found Taylor Boswell for a quick bucket. A couple of possessions later, Cadence Stewart drained a right-wing three and Brookelyn Morgan had an offensive rebound basket to extend East’s lead to 23-10.
And the lead just kept growing.
Later in the half, Dunford scored again, Josie Patterson hit a 3-pointer and Kenna Sheppard also got in on the scoring action with a basket underneath.
A third-quarter Stewart trifecta put the Spartans on top 42-19 and then Dunford went wild from behind the arc as she made three 3-point buckets to close out the third quarter with East in control, 64-23.
Jim Justice emptied his bench as the game ended in blowout fashion.
The game against John Marshall, originally scheduled for Friday night, March 19, was moved to Saturday morning.
With the Spartans ahead 43-40 late in the game, they had ample opportunities to put it away for good at the free-throw line, but they kept missing the clutch ones.
The Monarchs cut it to 46-43 with 14 seconds left, but the Spartan defense stayed strong and did not even allow a shot attempt as time expired and the Spartans sealed their fourth victory in a row.
East is now 6-3 on the young season.
Team and player stats were unavailable at the time of this publication. Look for stats to be back and updated this week.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.