Eastern girls fall to county basketball rivals, 54-52
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For much of the game between the Taylor and Eastern girls’ basketball teams on Nov. 14, it appeared that the only thing Taylor was going to win was the tip-off. With the exception of a pair of moments midway through the third quarter, the Lady Comets stayed just out of reach of their rival Lady Titans.
But they play four quarters of basketball around here, and Taylor made the most of the final stanza, prevailing by a score of 54-52.
Trailing by five at the half, 30-25, the Lady Titans started their comeback from beyond the three-point arc. A shooting foul sent Taylor to the line to sink three free throws, and the Lady Titans followed it with a successful three. Suddenly, they had their first lead of the night at 31-30.
Eastern followed with a field goal of its own but was quickly answered by another Taylor three. The Lady Comets called timeout with three minutes to go, trailing 34-32. The pause was well-timed, as the visitors left the huddle and rolled off six straight points.
As the fourth quarter dawned, Eastern once again held a tenuous lead, 38-36. But Taylor wasn’t finished fighting. The two teams traded shots and the lead through the early part of the period, but with about five minutes remaining, Taylor took the lead for good.
The Lady Titans pushed their advantage and actually opened a six-point lead over the next two minutes. It was the largest lead either team had seen on the evening, and it was just enough.
Eastern made a desperate rally and closed to just a two-point margin using the traditional hack-and-shoot strategy commonplace in the sport. But Taylor hit its free throws, and the clock did its job, leaving the Lady Comets one shot short of victory.
The Lady Titans were led on the court by junior sparkplug Kiera Phelps. The hot-handed guard dropped 23 points on Eastern, including four killer threes and seven charitable contributions from the foul line. She was joined in double-digits by freshman Akayla Flynn, who added 16 points.
Phelps added seven rebounds to lead her team, though Flynn had five boards of her own to go with four assists. Senior Destiny Skinner also managed five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
At 2-3, the Lady Titans travel across the Howard-Tipton county line on Fri., Nov. 21, to face Tri-Central (3-2). Eastern (0-4) is still looking for its first win of the season after taking a hard loss at Southwood on Nov. 18. They travel to Rossville (3-0) on Nov. 21.
See additional photos from this contest, courtesy of Adam Hartsough, on the Lantern’s Facebook page or group.