LEWISBURG (WVDN) – It was offensively offensive and what you would call “ugly,” but the Greenbrier East Lady Spartans rebounded from their first loss of the season with a 41-26 victory over the Princeton Tigers on Tuesday, Dec.13, at the Spartan Gym in Fairlea.
Obviously, from the score, scoring was at a premium all night long, but East’s Caroline Dotson got going early with a banked 3-pointer and a free throw to open the East scoring for a 4-0 lead. Kennedy Stewart then hit a shot from distance and fellow freshman Mackenna McClure hit one at the first quarter buzzer and East (4-1) led 11-8 after one.
With 5:20 left in the second period, McClure made another three and K. Stewart converted a steal and score for an 18-11 East lead. Then, with time winding down, Cadence Stewart pulled up from 25-feet and hit the Spartans second buzzer beater of the game, as East took a 21-12 lead into halftime.
Kaelyn Davis hit a 3-pointer for Princeton (2-3) to open the third, but the Spartans answered quickly with a Dotson bucket and a short jumper from Alizabeth Wooding.
The score then stayed 25-15 for over seven minutes before the Tigers’ Regan Suthers ended the offensive drought with a short jump shot.
“I was thinking out there this might be the ugliest game of basketball I’ve ever played at East,” C. Stewart said with a grin. “I mean, it was not pretty, and at one point coach said we don’t care if we have to win when it’s ugly.”
The Tigers would never threaten from that point on as C. Stewart took the game over down the stretch. She also finished 9-of-9 from charity stripe.
Princeton’s defense keyed on the oldest Stewart sister which was their game plan coming into the contest.
“Them playing a triangle-in-two (defense) was pretty rough, just because if one wasn’t following me then two were, when I got screened or whatever, but they went to a man in the second half so that made it a little easier,” C. Stewart said after the game.
C. Stewart was named the Magic’s Computer Repair Player of the Game and finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Dotson added 9 points and grabbed seven boards.
The Spartan defense held Princeton to a mere 14 recent shooting. East shot only 32% from the field but went 10-of-11 from the foul line.
East will play St. Albans in a showdown this Saturday night, Dec. 17. The Red Dragons are 5-1 right now and one of the better teams in the state.
Stats and quotes courtesy of Oldies 93.3, WRON.
