LEES CREEK — Making 14 of its last 15 free throws, East Clinton rallied Saturday afternoon to defeat Wilmington 55-49 in double overtime at the EC gym.
Jayden Murphy drained three free throws with no time on the first overtime clock, then sank two with 25.1 seconds to go in the second extra session to seal the win.
“Seem like we … this bunch of girls, they don’t know the word quit,” EC head coach Bill Bean said after leaving a jubilent Astros lockerroom. “At Leesburg we were down 22-0 to start the game and we cut it to six or seven points.. We (coaches) never have to worry about their effort.”
East Clinton trailed the entire game until Katrina Bowman’s two free throws with 1:38 to play tied WHS at 39-39. Bowman’s pair from the charity stripe started EC’s successful run from the line.
But primarily it was Libby Evanshine (seven for eight) and Murphy (five for five) who did in the Lady Hurricane at the line. Nothing early in the game gave the idea EC would be so good from the stripe. The Astros made just 7 of their first 15.
“I give EC a ton of credit,” WHS head coach Zach Williams said. “Their girls played hard and ended up making more plans than we did. We had our opportunities.”
Wilmington falls to 5-5 on the year and played again without injured point guard Sophie Huffman.
East Clinton is 6-5 and has won four of its last five games.
Libby Evanshine made 10 free throws and finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks for EC. Off the bench, Murphy added 11 and Lauren Runyon scored nine and had 10 rebounds.
Katie Murphy had 21 points and Maura Drake scored 14 and hauled down 11 rebounds. Caroline Diels grabbed 10 rebounds. Taylor Noszka had four rebounds, four assists and four steals. The split their scoring by halves with Drake netting 12 in the first half and Murphy pouring in 15 in the second half.
Wilmington led from the outset when Noszka swished a three and KeAsia Robinson added a bucket for a 5-0 lead. The largest WHS lead was 12-4 midway through the first quarter when Noszka found an open Johns who connected for three.
Runyon entered the game and scored seven to keep EC in it. Though the Astros never led, they were always lurking. Drake had a flurry late in the half, scoring four to put the Lady Hurricane on top 27-20 at the break.
Jayden Murphy made her impact in the third to get EC within 27-25 then Libby Evanshine made it 31-29. Runyon scored off a Libby Evanshine assist with 2:04 to play in the fourth and EC was again within two.
Bowman then converted two free throws 26 seconds later to forge a tie for the first time since 0-0.
In the first OT, Murphy’s three put WHS up 42-39 then another three pushed the difference to 46-42 with 50 seconds remaining. EC forced another overtime when Jayden Murphy was fouled on a three-point attempt as time expired. She calmly sank all three tries and the game went to a second OT, tied at 46-46.
Bowman’s stickback gave EC the lead then Diels gave WHS its last lead with two free throws at 2:57, 49-48.
Libby Evanshine (four) and Jayden Murphy (two) were perfect at the line in the waning seconds to give EC the come-from-behind win.
SUMMARY
Jan 9, 2021
@East Clinton High School
East Clinton 55, Wilmington 49
W^17^10^7^5^7^2^^49
EC^12^8^12^7^7^9^^55
(49) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Robinson 1-0-0-2 Noszka 2-1-1-6 Johns 1-1-0-3 K. Murphy 7-5-2-21 Drake 5-0-4-14 Diels 0-0-3-3 TOTALS 16-7-10-49
(55) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) L. Evanshine 4-0-10-14 G. Evanshine 0-0-0-0 Lilly 1-0-1-3 Clark 0-0-0-0 G. Boggs 2-0-0-4 Collom 1-1-0-3 Bowman 2-0-3-7 Runyon 4-0-1-9 J. Murphy 2-1-6-11 TOTALS 16-2-21-55
FIELD GOALS: WHS 16/60; EC 16/50
3 PT FIELD GOALS: WHS 7/22; EC 2/8
FREE THROWS: WHS 10/19; EC 21/30
REBOUNDS: W-48 (Drake 11, Diels 10, Robinson 10, K. Murphy 8, Noszka 4, Johns 3); EC-44 (L. Evanshine 11, Runyon 10, Bowman 8, Clark 5, G. Evanshine 2, J. Murphy 2, Lilly 1)
ASSISTS: W-12 (Johns 5, Noszka 4, K. Murphy 2, Drake 1); EC-8 (L. Evanshine 3, Runyon 2, G. Evanshine 1, G. Boggs 1, Bowman 1)
STEALS: W-6 (Noszka 4, Johns 2); EC-7 (J. Murphy 2, Runyon 1, Bowman 1, Collom 1, G. Boggs 1, Clark 1)
BLOCKED SHOTS: W-4 (Robinson 1, Noszka 1, K. Murphy 1, Drake 1); EC-4 (L. Evanshine 3, Runyon 1)
TURNOVERS: W-17; EC-17
