LEES CREEK — East Clinton was unable to keep up a torrid scoring pace after the first quarter and fell to South Central Ohio League rival Chillicothe 59-44 Thursday night at the EC gym.
“I was very proud of our kids,” EC head coach Steven Gerber said. “They played hard and put themselves in a position to win.”
Lacey Peterman was the leading scorer for the Astros with 13 points. Paige Lilly had 10 points and Kaitlin Durbin had 9 points.
Shaunee Smith led the Cavaliers with 17 points while Shaunice Smith had 14 points.
East Clinton started the game off strong with Peterman leading the charge with 10 points in the first quarter giving the Astros a 6-point advantage 23-17. Lilly tossed in 7 in the first for EC.
After chasing the Astros in the first quarter, the Cavaliers were able to recover in the second and with a layup at the buzzer by Shaunice Smith to close out the half, Chillicothe battled back to tie the game 29-29.
The third quarter was much different from the first with the Cavaliers taking control of the game. With excellent defense and forcing many turnovers, Chillicothe was able to hold East Clinton to only 1 point in the third. The Cavaliers went on an 11-0 run to close out the period giving them a 42-30 lead.
East Clinton had spoiled a brilliant start by scoring just 7 points in the second and third quarters.
“They’re really good,” said Gerber. “That is a talented team and they came out and they got after us pretty hard. They were able to make some shots and we weren’t, that is what it boiled down to there.”
Gerber was still pleased with his squad’s ability to hang with one of the best teams in the SCOL.
“We put ourselves right there to win the game,” he said. “We gotta learn how to win and we are going to, we are on the right track.”
SUMMARY
December 22, 2016
@Larrick Road gym
Chillicothe 59 East Clinton 44
EC 23.06.01.14…..44
CH 17.12.13.17…..59
(44) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) La. Peterman 4-1-4-13 Campbell 1-0-3-5 Lilly 4-2-0-10 Durbin 2-1-4-9 Davis 0-0-0-0 Christian 2-0-0-4 Hall 1-0-1-3. TOTALS 14-4-12-44
(59) CHILLICOTHE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Brown 4-0-2-10 Shaunice Smith 7-0-0-14 Deubia 2-2-2-8 Shauntell Smith 1-0-0-2 Shaunee Smith 6-1-4-17 Johnson 0-0-0-0 Greene 3-0-0-6 Price 1-0-0-1. TOTALS 24-3-8-59
