A big crowd showed up at the Spartan gym in Fairlea on the final night of January for a makeup game between the Greenbrier East Lady Spartans and their arch rival, the Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles.
East struggled and trailed at the half, came back with a fury of a third quarter, but ultimately fell behind late and lost the contest 55-50 in true upset form.
The fireworks started early for both teams as Cadence Stewart hit two free throws to open the scoring, which Beckley’s Olivia Ziolkowski answered with an old fashioned three-point play. Then, Daisha Summers scored on a runner in the lane and a couple possessions later, Caroline Dotson banked in a trifecta, and East led 7-5 two minutes into the contest.
East (10-4) started to get a little out of control after that as the Flying Eagles dialed up their pressure defense which forced a steal from Lataja Creasey who went uncontested for a bucket and a 11-8 Woodrow Lead with 2:42 remaining in the opening quarter.
Ziolkowski scored four straight to end the first quarter and gave Woodrow a 15-8 lead.
Beckley (4-9) went up 19-9 early in the second before a Stewart basket finally stopped the bleeding. Abby Dillon drilled a 3-pointer for the Eagles and they went up 22-11 with just under four minutes left in the half.
A buzzer beater by Stewart made the score 23-16, Woodrow at halftime.
The Spartans brought some fire in the third quarter in the form of Stewart. Early in the quarter, she hit a left-wing 3-pointer to pull the Spartans within three points at 23-20, and after Beckley answered with a couple more buckets, she then converted an and-one to keep the crowd in the game.
But she was just getting started.
She scored eight straight points in about 45 seconds and gave East their first lead in a long time at 35-34. The score was 39-36 after three.
East extended their lead to 46-36 early in the fourth on baskets from Brooke Davis and Layla Pence, but from that point forward, the Eagles outscored the Spartans 19-4 in a game that turned sour very quickly.
East turned the ball over and Abby Dillon took advantage with five quick points. Stewart then picked up her fourth foul a couple minutes later which forced her to the bench with 4:18 left in the game.
Back-to-back threes by Creasey and Dillon put Beckley up 50-49 and the Eagles never looked back, although a controversial call by the officials that granted the Eagles a critical timeout while the ball was rolling down the court played a key role in the win. Creasey made one free throw, took 30 seconds off the clock and fouled Stewart out of the game after the call.
Stewart led East with a game-high 24 points.
Ziolkowski had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Dillon had 17 points.
Daisha Summers (white #32) gets the ball on the wing as two Beckley defenders close in. |
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