Sports
Eastern Earns Spot in District Finals
By: Zoe Stitzer
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The district semifinals game was played on the court, but won in the paint.
Clay came out strong in the first quarter, matching Eastern point-for-point. Clay’s dedication to getting the offensive rebound gave the team many more quick shot attempts than Eastern.
Eastern beat Clay at their own game later in the game by taking to the paint and fighting for their rebounds. Most of Eastern’s points were won by putting the ball up again right under the basket. Olivia Barber had a standout game tonight. She was Eastern’s highest scorer with 12 points and highest rebounder. Barber took the pressure off of Jess Parker and Alyson Bailey by getting open under the rim and finishing the play.
Parker recognized that it was going to be difficult to get an outside shot off while contending with Clay’s defense. She moved the ball effectively and drove inside to get shots off.
“I thought our team played the hardest they have played all year tonight,” coach Jacob Parker said.
Eastern played hard on both sides of the court. During the 1st half, Kennadi Rockhold stood out on defense and helped Eastern regain time of possession. Rockhold didn’t leave Clay’s point guard Skylar Artis room to breathe, forcing turnover after turnover.
“We preach defense all year around. We just wanted to come out and play our style ball, play aggressive defense and see if we could get some offense off of our defense tonight,” Parker said.
Eastern’s lead grew before halftime after a slew of fast breaks. Once eastern got a steady lead in the first quarter, they never looked back. The final score was 49-30 in Eastern’s favor.
“This time of year, it’s either win or go home, and I think they’re feeding off of that because they want to keep playing basketball,” Coach Parker said.
Catch Eastern in the District Finals against top seed Notre Dame at Jackson next Thursday, Feb. 28 at 6:15 p.m.