The Greenbrier East Lady Spartans finished their season on a high note and won their last three regular season games amidst a little adversity as well.
The Spartans defeated Doddridge County 57-49 on Thursday, April 8, and then beat Chapmanville 50-39 on Saturday morning and defeated Lincoln County 54-41 Saturday afternoon.
Yes, the Spartans played a doubleheader on Saturday due to a cancellation of a game on Friday night.
East started off on the right foot against Doddridge County (DC). Cadence Stewart, Layla Pence and Brookelyn Morgan each scored a bucket and put the Spartans up 6-0 early.
And it continued to be all Spartans from that point. Pence took a nice feed from Stewart and scored again, Allie Dunford hit a short jumper and Stewart then followed a Brooke Davis free throw with a three-pointer, and the Spartans led 19-6 after one quarter.
Stewart then scored the first seven Spartan points of the second period, but after a Lora McComb three for DC, Davis answered with a trey from the corner and East held a 29-15 lead at that point. Taylor Boswell came on late in the quarter and scored two baskets for the Spartans as they took a 35-17 lead into halftime.
Davis drained a three-pointer to start the second half, but Doddridge County started to chip away at the lead after that.
Rylee Spurlock hit a couple jumpers and Carrie Boyd scored a little later to trim the Spartan lead to just nine points at 40-31.
But two possessions later, and DC still with all the momentum, freshman Marley Patterson hit an open three to put East up by 13, and Kenna Sheppard scored a bucket to end the third with a 46-35 East lead.
Pence, Stewart and Davis kept East in front in the final quarter as they held off another minor run by DC and the Spartans sealed the victory.
Stewart led East with 21 points and Davis had 12. Pence scored eight points and hauled in nine rebounds.
Abigail Nicholson led DC with 14 points and nine rebounds.
East was then forced to lace the shoes up at 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning and the way the game started, it appeared the time may have affected them a bit. Stewart put East up 2-0 with the games first basket, but the Lady Tigers of Chapmanville went on a quick 7-0 run and took a five-point lead thanks in part to Jaiden Mahon and Hollee Blair, and you could just tell this game was going to be a good one.
Dunford and Davis had back-to-back layups that tied the game at 7-all, but Chapmanville went right back up by four after two impressive buckets from Blair.
It was then Dunford that decided enough was enough. The junior point guard hit a three-pointer, then got a steal and went coast-to-coast for an easy basket and just like that the Spartans were ahead 14-11 after one quarter.
Head Coach Jim Justice went with all reserves in the second period due to the SSAC rules that a player cannot play more than five quarters of basketball in one day’s time. So, the governor had to make some lineup adjustments carefully.
The second unit played well. Nay Garrett scored off an offensive rebound then on the next Tiger possession she got a steal and assist to Aubrey Glover. Boswell followed with a pull-up jumper for two, but Chapmanville kept the lead the rest of the half, although Josie Patterson’s basket near the end of the half played a huge momentum role.
At the break, The Tigers led 23-22.
Stewart, Davis and Dunford sat out the third quarter also so they could be fresh for the fourth, and once again the role players played their role to perfection. After Blair scored inside, Ari Gil Edo got a point from the free-throw line for East and Sheppard scored a transition 3-pointer and the score was knotted at 26-all.
Gil Edo would drain a trifecta later in the quarter, Pence scored on a driving layup and Josie Patterson hit two go ahead free throws to end the period with the Spartans leading 33-31 and four starters set to return.
Those starters began the fourth in style. Stewart hit a three from the corner and followed with another basket. Then Morgan knocked in a jumper and East led 40-31 and began to pull away.
Blair and Claire Dingess did what they could for Chapmanville, but Stewart, Dunford and Morgan were too much and East raced to another win.
Dunford took home player of the game honors with a team-high 12 points, seven steals and four rebounds. Stewart added 10 points in two-quarters of play. Davis had eight steals. Josie Patterson had a good game also with six points, four rebounds and three steals.
Blair was good for the Tigers and finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Chapmanville had 30 turnovers which led to 27 Spartan points.
Stats were not made available at the time of this writing for the game against Lincoln, but the Spartans won it convincingly. The Spartans finish the regular season at 12-5.
East will played the Princeton TigersTuesday, April 13, to begin Sectional Tournament play. Tipoff was scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Stats courtesy of Oldies 93.3
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