FAIRLEA- The Greenbrier East Lady Spartans, undefeated on the year and ranked number 1 for the last several weeks, appeared they had finally met their match when they hosted the 7th ranked East Fairmont Lady Bees at Spartan Gym on Friday night, Feb. 13 in a Valentine’s Eve battle.
After taking a 2-0 lead on Ava Workman free throws, Greenbrier East fell behind 3-2 on the Bees’ Kailee Haymond’s 3 and East Fairmont led the rest of the first half. They forced Greenbrier East into numerous turnovers and rushed shots while knocking down perimeter buckets in the process.
At halftime, the Bees led 31-21.
But the second half was a whole different story as the Spartans came out determined and ready to roll.
Following an East Fairmont (10-6) basket that put them up by 12 points to begin the second half, Kennedy Stewart finally notched her first field goal, a long 3, then Mackenna McClure sank two free throws. A few possessions later, with the Lady Spartans trailing 40-32, Stewart swished another triple and an offensive rebound and score from McClure pulled the Spartans within five at 42-37 with just under a minute left in the third. Then, Workman hit one from downtown and in a matter of minutes, Greenbrier East trailed by just two points after three and had stolen all the momentum.
McClure gave East (19-0) their first lead since the first minute of the contest when she drained a 3-pointer and made it 43-42 just 50 seconds in. A few minutes later, the Lady Spartans ignited an 8-0 run that featured two Stewart triples and a clutch, tough basket underneath from Regan Rink and Greenbrier East had built their lead to 51-44.
But the Bees never quit and cut it back to three points at 51-48, but the home team scored the final four points on free throws from Workman and Stewart and Greenbrier East completed the comeback effort.
Workman led the Spartans with 21 points. She also grabbed 4 rebounds and had 3 assists and 2 steals. Stewart netted 14 points (13 in the second half) and had 8 rebounds and 2 steals. McClure, the player of the game, scored 8 points and pulled down 12 rebounds and Rink, who tied for the team lead in plus/minus at +12, had 4 points and 5 rebounds.
Haymond led East Fairmont with 16 points.
The Lady Spartans will stay home and play another top 10 contest against AAAA #10 Cabell Midland this Monday evening at 7:30. East will look for their milestone 20th victory.
Scoring by Quarter:
EF: 16 15 11 6– 48
GE: 10 11 19 15– 55
