Hardwood Heroes
Eastern Lady Eagles take down Paint Valley Bearcats in Chillicothe
By: Lucy Schaefer
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Chillicothe, Ohio (WOUB) – The Eastern Ladies traveled to South Eastern High School in Chillicothe to face the Paint Valley Bearcats in the second round of OHSAA tournament play. The Eagles are coming off a breezy 62-25 win versus the Eastern Eagles of Pike County, and are looking to improve their resume and head into the third round of the tournament to face the number-one-seeded Notre Dame Titans out of Portsmouth.
Number four versus number five. A highly anticipated game with another game and a tournament spot on the line. Not only would this be Eastern’s last game, but it would be their three graduating seniors’ last games. Sydney Reynolds, Erica Durst, and Juli Durst all graduate this year and are looking toward their respective futures.
Quick feet, many fouls, and high levels of defense are all factors that sum up the first quarter. Paint Valley, although extremely aggressive on defense, possibly the hardest the Eagles have had to face all year, was unable to shoot consistently. This proved to be a constant theme for the bearcats, who trailed Eastern 16-21 at the half.
The third and fourth quarters proved to be much of the same for each team, Paint Valley continued to miss their shots, and the Eagles just continued to bring them back. Eastern played some high-grade defense themselves, totaling nine steals and one block on the night. A plethora of fouls put Junior Hope Reed out of the game with about a minute to go in the fourth quarter, both teams totaled 18 fouls in the second half alone.
Senior Erica Durst had her shining moment tonight, as she finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, and 5 steals. Durst contributed greatly to the success of her team, as she accounted for the most points out of anybody on her team.
Although the Bearcats put their lasting efforts down on the court, the defensive and offensive skills of the Eagles proved to be too much for Paint Valley. Eastern dominated and came out on top 41-25, and will move on to the third round of the tournament to play Notre Dame on Saturday.