LEES CREEK — A dramatic fourth quarter comeback fueled the East Clinton Astros Lady Astros to a 56-55 victory over county rival Clinton-Massie Wednesday night.
With the win, East Clinton is 12-8 on the season, while the Lady Falcons fall to 3-12 on the season.
Clinton-Massie dominated play in the first half, building a 31-18 lead at intermission. Miranda Crawford had seven in the opening period and Aidan Eades followed with six in the second as the Falcons built a 13-point advantage.
East Clinton began its comeback in the third period with a 17-12 margin, closing the gap to 43-35. Lauren Runyon ignited the Lady Astros on the comeback trail with eight points. Sydney Crowe had six in the third for CM.
Jordan Collom and Jayden Murphy combined for 17 of the Lady Astros’ 21 points in the final period. Perhaps the biggest factor was free throw shooting as the Lady Astros were razor sharp at the line connecting on all eight attempts. Collom and Murphy tied for team high honors with 16 points each.
“I just told them in the locker room that I am an old man, and they’re making me older by the minute,” Lady Astros coach Bill Bean said as he emerged from the jubilant locker room. “Give Clinton-Massie a lot of credit. They played a lot better than a team which has only won three games. I think the difference was when we got the score tied (two free throws by Kelsi Lilly) making it 46-46, we believed we could pull it out.”
But Clinton-Massie did not fold the tent, forging a 52-52 tie score before Collom hit a pair of free throws putting EC on top for good at 56-55 with 22 seconds to play.
Massie misfired on two attempts on the ensuing trip down the floor, and had one final shot at the win, but misfired as the horn sounded.
Eades led the Falcon attack with 13 points, while Crawford followed with 12 points. Both players had five in the fourth quarter.
SUMMARY
Feb 3, 2021
@East Clinton High School
East Clinton 56 Clinton-Massie 55
CM^19^12^12^12^^55
EC^8^10^17^21^^56
(55) CLINTON-MASSIE (2fg-3fg-ft-tp) Crowe 4-0-1-9, Eades 5-0-3-13, Crawford 3-0-6-12, Avery 2-0-1-5, Phipps 4-0-0-8, Branham 1-0-2-4, Voisey 2-0-0-4, Team Totals: 21-0-13-55.
(56) EAST CLINTON ( 2fg-3fg-ft-tp) Collum 4-0-6-16, Runyon 4-0-2-10, Lilly 0-1-4-7, Murphy 4-1-5-16, Bogga 1-0-0-2, Whitaker 1-0-0-2, Clark 1-0-0-2. Team Totals: 15-2-17-56.
