Eastern girls outlasts South Gallia to win first District Championship since 2017
By: Evan Johnson
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LUCASVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) – The Eastern Lady Eagles (18-5, 8-2) traveled to Valley High School for a chance to win a District Championship against South Gallia (18-7, 9-1). The Lady Eagles controlled the game for the first half, but towards the end of the game, both offenses went cold. Eastern held their lead until the final buzzer, winning 44-35.
The last time the Lady Eagles won the District Championship was in 2017. Since then, Eastern girls’ basketball has had its ups and downs, with the program struggling even to find wins in some seasons.
But a new era is here, Coach Hayden Plummer has changed the culture and is putting Eastern back on the map for the first time since 2014. Even with no seniors on the roster, the team shows a lot of maturity on and off the court.
It was the second meeting between Eastern and South Gallia this season. On Jan. 21, the Lady Eagles dominated the Rebels, winning 57-29. South Gallia flipped a switch after the loss, winning nine of their last eleven games.
Both teams were slow to start, with the first basket not being scored until nearly two minutes into the game. South Gallia made their defensive gameplan known early by doing anything in their power to limit Kyrstin Fackler.
Fackler is only a freshman, but she has a high basketball IQ and awareness of the court. She was able to drive and draw the defense into the paint, which left Emeri Lloyd wide open. Lloyd took advantage of her opportunities and knocked down four shots from behind the arc in the first half, giving her team a 33-21 lead at the break.
In the third quarter, the flow of the game shifted drastically. South Gallia was able to move the ball cleanly and kept throwing dimes into the paint off backdoor cuts, but was not able to finish at the rim.
For Eastern, they also were able to swing the ball around the floor, and they still had open shots from deep, but nothing would fall. The defensive battle mixed with a lack of shooting resulted in only a total of seven points being scored in the quarter.
In the final eight minutes, the Lady Eagles slowed down the game. This led to a two-and-a-half-minute possession that ended with Kyrstin Fackler getting a lay-up and a called foul for her first points of the game.
“We weren’t trying to stall; that wasn’t the message in the timeout. It was more to get us spaced out, not take the okay shot; we want the great shot,” said Eastern Head Coach Hayden Plummer.
South Gallia was visibly getting tired of Eastern’s long possessions but had no answer and played the foul game in the final minutes. This allowed Eastern to hold on for a 44-35 victory.
Lloyd ended as the game’s leading scorer with 16 points and was the only Lady Eagle to score double digit points.
“I’m super proud of them. We didn’t shoot it well tonight, but we found a way to win. I think this game tonight was really good for us to show that we have other options if we aren’t shooting it well,” said Plummer.
Despite the loss, the Rebels had a fantastic season. The program has now won 16 or more games in each of the last five seasons.
Eastern got their medals, trophy, and got to cut down the nets, but their mindset has quickly switched back to one game at a time. They will now travel to Logan High School to face Green in the regional semi-finals on Mar. 5 at 8 p.m.