EC girls shrug off slow start, top CM 46-35

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ADAMS TOWNSHIP – Both teams had their ups and downs but the East Clinton Lady Astros came out on top, 46-35, over their cross county rival Clinton-Massie Monday night in the CMHS gym.

“I thought the first the half we played extremely hard, holding them to 10 points,” CM coach Tim McGraw said. “I thought we did a great job at the defensive end.

“In the second half, I felt like they outworked us and it flipped. You gotta give them a lot of credit; they came out and attacked us in the second half and that was the difference in the ball game.”

Johanna Theetge led the Falcons with 18 points while Faith Cottrell added nine.

Lacy Peterman led the Astros with 13 points, Paige Lilly had 12 and Mackenzie Campbell added eight.

“Peterman and Campbell created a lot of havoc in front of the 2-1-2 zone and Paige Lilly in the middle helped create a lot of turnovers,” said East Clinton head coach Jeff Craycraft.

Led by Peterman’s 4-for-4 performance in the fourth, East Clinton was 17 for 25 at the free throw line.

Both teams got off to a slow start, scoring a collective 14 points in the entire quarter. EC led 8-6 on the strength of an early three-pointer by Peterman.

It didn’t take long for the Falcons to turn things around in the second after scoring a basket to tie the game 8-8. The Astros managed to score shortly after, but that would be all they would get the rest of the way as Clinton-Massie took an 18-10 halftime lead.

It took a while, but the Astros slowly began to battle back in the third. At one point the Falcon lead got up to nine, but the Astros went on a 11-0 run midway through the period giving them their first lead since early in the second. Both teams battled until the end of the period, but the Astros remained in control headed into the fourth quarter with a 4-point lead.

“The first half is not an indication of who we are,” said Craycraft. “We discussed at halftime that we needed to start being trustworthy, loving your teammates, start sharing the ball and boxing out.”

The Astros came out of the blocks with a 3-pointer on their first possession in the final period giving them a seven-point advantage, 32-25. The Falcons fought hard throughout the quarter. The combination of the constant pressure from the Astro defense and the tiring offense seemed to be what kept them in the hole through the quarter.

“We decided to do the little things and it isn’t like any big game plan happened at halftime. It is all about their heart and hustle and that is what we try to preach everyday,” said Craycraft.

Said McGraw, “We are just going to keep playing hard. We have Western Brown on Thursday and the crossover game on Saturday. So we are going to try and get those two games and then go give Monroe everything they want in the tournament.”

SUMMARY

February 5 2018

@Lebanon Road gym

East Clinton 46 Clinton-Massie 35

EC 08.02.19.17…..46

CM 06.12.07.10…..35

(46) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Peterman 3-3-4-13 Campbell 3-0-2-8 Lilly 4-2-2-12 McCarren 0-0-0-0 Durbin 1-0-3-5 Davis 1-0-3-5 Christian 0-0-2-2 Hall 0-0-1-1. TOTALS 12-5-17-46

(35) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) McKenna Crawford 1-0-0-2 Theetge 4-0-10-18 Cottrell 4-1-0-9 Smith 1-0-0-2 Conley 0-0-1-1 Ireland 0-0-0-0 Avery 0-0-0-0 Doss 1-0-1-3 Chowning 0-0-0-0. TOTALS 11-1-12-35

FIELD GOALS: EC 12-42; CM 11-47

3 PT FIELD GOALS: EC 5-14 (Peterman 3-7 Lilly 2-4); CM 1-8

FREE THROWS: EC 17-25 (Peterman 4-4); CM 12-19

REBOUNDS: EC-21 (Durbin 6 Campbell 4 Hall 4 Peterman 3 Davis 3); CM-42

ASSISTS: EC-8 (Lilly 3 Campbell 2 Peterman 2)

STEALS: EC-16 (Campbell 6 Peterman 3 Durbin 3 Davis 2)

BLOCKED SHOTS: 6 (Durbin 3)

TURNOVERS: EC-13 CM-24

By Seth Murdock

WNJ Sports Writer

Seth Murdock is a student reporter who covers high school sports for the News Journal.

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