LEES CREEK — East Clinton’s game-winning three-point attempt fell short at the buzzer and Bethel-Tate escaped with a 61-59 SBAAC National Division victory Monday.

“What we were going to do is get it to half court, if we didn’t have something on the move, call timeout. Libby (Evanshine) got the ball on the move. Libby found Kelsi (Lilly) who had a wide-open three,” EC head coach Bill Bean said. “You can’t fault the look we got. I think we got the look we wanted. It just didn’t go.”

EC trailed 59-51 with 2:21 left after BT rattled off seven straight points. The Tigers (4-4, 3-2) kept the Astros (4-5, 1-3) in the game down the stretch by missing free throws.

Meanwhile, EC got a big three by Kami Whiteaker with 1:38 left to pull within 59-54. A Libby Evanshine bucket in the lane with 16 seconds left in the game made the score 60-56. A Lilly three with 7.4 seconds left made it 61-59.

Bethel-Tate airmailed the inbound pass, which a Tiger gathered just as she stepped on the other end line, to give EC another chance at victory.

The Tigers led all of the first half and took at 32-19 lead into the intermission thanks to a 13-2 run during the final three minutes.

The Astros returned the favor by finishing the final three minutes of the third quarter with a 13-2 run to tie the game at 44-44 and set up a thrilling final period.

Libby Evanshine led the Astros with 17 points. Gracie Evanshine and Lauren Runyon chipped in with 12 each.

Ashley Bee led BT with 23 points while Alli Stolz added 20.

SUMMARY

Jan 4, 2021

@East Clinton High School

Bethel-Tate 61 East Clinton 59

BT^12^20^12^17^^61

EC^8^11^25^15^^59

(61) BETHEL-TATE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Miracle 1-0-0-2 Bee 10-1-2-23 Sampson 1-0-1-3 Stolz 9-0-2-20 Dunn 3-1-0-7 Tolliver 3-0-0-6 TOTALS 27-2-5/16-61

(59) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) L. Evanshine 4-0-9-17 Whiteaker 3-1-2-0 G. Evanshine 4-2-2-12 Clark 0-0-0-0 G. Boggs 1-0-0-2 Collom 0-0-0-0 Bowman 0-0-0-0 Runyon 4-0-4-12 Lilly 2-1-0-5 Murphy 1-0-0-2 TOTALS 19-4-17/19-59