Eastern rallies behind stud Juniors to beat Fed Hock
By: Dylan Westmeyer, Ethan Sargeant
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REEDSVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) — On a balmy Monday night in Reedsville, the Eastern Lady Eagles returned after a 11 day hiatus to take on the 2-win Federal Hocking Lady Lancers.
It was a quick start for the Eagles, as Sydney Reynolds got things going with scoring 10 straight Eagles to get Eastern off to a 10-2 lead. But after that, it was all Lancers as they strung together a 10-0 run to end the quarter and took the lead early in the second.
The rest of the quarter was back and forth, as it was a bit of a shootout. The Eagles took a 2-point lead to the locker room on the back of the shooting of Reynolds and Erica Durst, the two main components of Eastern’s offense. The first half was also marred by fouls, as there were 22 combined fouls in the first half.
Eastern tighten up on the defensive side in the 2nd half, as they held Federal Hocking to just 18 second half points. They also cooled down on the offensive side, meaning this one came right down to the wire.
It was 50-46 with 20 seconds left when the Lancers got a huge bucket to get the deficit to 2. With 12 seconds left, the Lady Lancers fouled Erica Durst, who made 1-2 free throws for a 3 point lead.
With just 4 seconds left, Fed Hock’s Reagen Jefferson drove to the hoop and layed it in, but the referees called a foul before the shooting motion. Jefferson would miss both free throws, and the Eagles would escape with the win.
Once again, as we’ve seen many times this season, it was the Reynolds and Durst show at the Nest. Reynolds contributed 19 points and 4 boards, as she considerably cooled down after that red-hot first quarter.
Durst had a strong double-double with 15 points and 10 boards. For the Lancers, despite those late missed free throws Jefferson had a solid night, putting up 15 points and 9 boards in the loss.
The Eagles will look to go 2 games above .500 in the playoff race as they take on Southern Thursday.