SPRINGFIELD — A historic season for the East Clinton girls basketball ended Wednesday night with a hard fought 45-41 defeat to Versailles in a Div. III Region 12 semifinal game at Springfield High School.
East Clinton finishes its season 24-3. The win total is the most in a single season for any East Clinton varsity basketball team, boys or girls.
The Astros, who were 21-5 last season and lost to Purcell-Marian in the Region 12 championship game last season, went 12-0 in each of the last two SBAAC National Division seasons.
Over the last two seasons, the senior class of Megan Tong, Libby Evanshine, Kami Whiteaker, Jozie Jones, Lauren Stonewall and Jayden Murphy has left quite a legacy.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been associated with a better bunch, basketball players, more than that, kids,” said head coach Bill Bean. “You couldn’t ask for a better bunch of kids. Class kids.”
When asked what the senior group meant to him, as well as the program, Bean’s answer was simple, “Everything.”
East Clinton played the regional semifinal without Whiteaker, who along with Evanshine,suffered ankle injuries in the Astros game against Anna on Saturday. Evanshine, who missed most of that district championship win, played on Wednesday.
Junior Jordan Collom (14), Murphy (13) and Evanshine (12) combined for 39 of East Clinton’s 41 points.
Versailles twin towers of 6-1 Allison Schwartz and 6-1 Taylor Wagner combined for 20 points, 21 rebounds and five assists in the win. The Tigers (17-10) will meet Columbus Africentric 1 p.m. Saturday in the Region 12 championship game at Springfield High School.
The game began back and forth with the Tigers putting together the first 2 buckets before five straight points from Evanshine. That sparked a 13-2 run for the Astros which was punctuated at the defensive end by a thunderous block from Evanshine. At the end of a quarter, the Astros led 13-6.
The Tigers opened the second quarter on a 7-1 run. Murphy knocked down an impressive three to stop the bleeding but the Tigers pulled within 14-13. A deep three by Collom sent it back to 20-15, but tough inside work from Dirksen made it 20-17 at the half.
Exceptional defense opened the first three minutes of the second half, with the Astros not converting on a single field goal in that span. Collom would go 3 for 4 at the line, however.
The two teams combined for six points in 35 seconds, electrifying the crowd on both sides. The Astros then went on an 8-2 run, but back-to-back Tiger buckets kept the game at arms length, 30-26 entering the final quarter.
Wagner, scoreless the first three periods, would then go on a run for the Tigers. Her first seven points of the game put Versailles up by a point, 35-34, before Murphy hit another deep three to put EC up again by two. Murphy then hit one of two free throws for a 39-37 Astro advantage.
The Tigers closed it out by scoring eight of the game’s final 10 points. East Clinton had a turnover and gave up an offensive rebound down the stretch to thwart any comeback bid.
SUMMARY
March 1, 2023
Div. III Region 12 Semifinal
@Springfield High School
Versailles 45, East Clinton 41
V^6^11^9^19^^45
EC^13^7^10^11^^41
(45) VERSAILLES (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Dirksen 3-0-3-9 Magoto 0-0-0-0 Litten 2-09-2-6 Wagner 3-0-4-10 Schwartz 4-0-2-10 Leach 0-0-0-0 Stammen 1-0-0-2 C. Leach 2-0-2-6 Osborne 0-0-2-2 TOTALS 15-0-15-45
(41) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Collom 4-3-3-14 Tong 0-0-0-0 Evanshine 4-1-3-12 Jones 0-0-1-1 Murphy 4-3-2-13 Stonewall 0-0-1-1 Hadley 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 12-6-11-41
FIELD GOALS: EC (12-37) Evanshine 4-11, Collom 4-9, Murphyy 4-15, Tong 0-2; V (15-44) Schwartz 4-11, Wagner 3-4
3 PT FIELD GOALS: EC (6-15) Collom 3-7, Murphy 3-7; V (0-10) Dirksen 0-4, Magoto 0-3
FREE THROWS: EC (11-23) Collom 3-4, Evanshine 3-7, Jones 1-2, Murphy 2-4, Stonewall 1-2; V (15-25) Dirksen 3-7, Wagner 4-6, Schwartz 2-3
REBOUNDS: EC-21 (Evanshine 8, Stonewall 5, Murphy 3, Collom 1, Jones 1; V-40 (Schwartz 12, Wagner 9, Dirksen 8)
ASSISTS: EC-6 (Collom 4, Evanshine 1, Stonewall 1); V-9 (Schwartz 3, Wagner 2, Litten 2)
STEALS: EC-7 (Collom 3, Murphy 3, Evanshine 1); V-4 (Litten 3)
BLOCKS: EC-4 (Evanshine 2, Collom 1, Jones 1); V-3
TURNOVERS: EC-12; V-11
