Sports
Burdette, Parker Lead Lady Eagles To District Title
By: Justin Holbrock
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For the fourth consecutive season the Eastern Lady Eagles have captured the district finals championship trophy. Eastern upended the Clay Panthers on Thursday night 84-30 at Jackson High School as the Eagles have won both district tournament games by a combined 110 points.
This victory gives Eastern its seventh district final championship in school history. All five senior starters for the Lady Eagles have also won the district final in every single year of their high school basketball career.
Prior to Thursday’s victory, only one player for Eastern had scored 20 points in this tournament. Jenna Burdette, however, dropped a game-high 22 points while Jordan Parker added 20 in the winning effort.Burdette finished the district tournament with a total of 39 points, eight steals, and 14 rebounds while Jordan Parker connected on 43 points in the two victories.
The Eagles pounced on the Panthers from the opening tip-off grabbing a 12-0 lead with 4:09 left in the first quarter. It took Clay over five minutes to score its first points but by that time the Eagles had a lead they would not relinquish. The Panthers never got closer than 10 points the rest of the game.With over 50 percent shooting from the field and from behind the arc, the Eagles were able to snatch their 13th win of 50 or more points.
Offense, however took a backseat to the Eagles swarming defense, which forced 24 turnovers while stealing the ball 20 times.ith a 42-point lead entering the fourth quarter, the Lady Eagles sat their starters for the third tournament game in a row.
The Eagles return to Jackson High School next Thursday night to square off against TVC-Hocking rival Waterford in the regional semi-finals. The Eagles defeated the Wildcats by a combined 60 points in their previous two matchups.
“It’s our rival. The girls should be up to play them. You’re this far you better be up to play whoever you got,” head coach John Burdette said. “We know each other pretty well and it ought to be a good ball game.”