Eastern Brown 62 , Minford 40

Results

TeamTOutcome
Eastern Brown60Win
Minford42Loss

Eastern Brown 62 , Minford 40

By Paul Boggs

In one word, it all quickly — unfortunately — for the Lady Falcons “unraveled”.

That’s because Minford, facing undefeated Eastern Brown, managed to play right with the Lady Warriors for the opening 20 minutes and 40 seconds — and even led 10-7 following the opening quarter before the Warriors won the second stanza 17-11 to lead 24-21 at halftime.

Still, the Lady Falcons — spearheaded by Maddie Slusher’s pair of three-pointers and driving deuce in the opening two minutes and five seconds of the third quarter — forged three ties, before five consecutive points put Minford ahead at 34-32 at the 3:20 mark.

After that, though, as Minford coach Shane Davis stated, “the wheels fell off.”

Did they ever — as Eastern ended the final 11:20 with a massive 30-6 run to win going away.

Within that 24-point difference, the Lady Warriors went off for 21 unanswered points — only halted briefly when Minford’s Livi Shonkwiler scored with 5:23 remaining, but she injured her ankle and left the game.

It was Shonkwiler’s only points, and Davis didn’t know the severity of her injury immediately afterwards.

The Warrior onslaught spree stretched to 28-2 before Minford’s Makenzie Watters split a pair of free throws with 3:07 left, as Eastern’s largest lead grew to 62-37 — before Falcon freshman Sydney Mougey made a game-ending three-pointer in the final few seconds.

“They went on that big run and our wheels just fell off,” said Davis.

The Lady Falcons’ largest problem, by far, was turnovers against Eastern’s full-court pressure over the final three quarters.

“We played them tough, but they stayed in the press the whole time and we just turned the ball over trying to throw the ball over top of it,” said Davis. “I don’t think they did anything different other than just more bodies to rotate in. We have to get some of these younger girls comfortable handling the ball against pressure, so we can rotate more in and not have the same girls out there as much constantly facing full-court presses.”

Slusher scored 16 points through three quarters to pace the Lady Falcons, as she made three threes — including one from the corner just 17 seconds into the second quarter for Minford’s largest lead at 13-7 — and 3-of-5 free throws.

Ally Coriell scored seven points on three baskets and a foul shot, while the Watters sisters — Makayla (two field goals and 1-of-2 free throws) and Makenzie (one field goal and 3-of-6 free throws) — finished with five apiece.

In addition to Shonkwiler and Moguey’s fourth-quarter field goals, Hannah Tolle tallied a basket in the first.

Camryn Pickerill, whom Minford shut out in the opening half, poured in 15 second-half points with three trifectas and 6-of-13 free throws.

Her back-to-back treys gave Eastern a 40-34 lead and the rout was on.

Rylee Leonard landed 11-of-12 foul shots and four field goals for 19 points, as Eastern attempted 30 free throws while Minford shot too fewer (17) than the Lady Warriors made (19).

The Lady Falcons fell to 3-5 with the loss, as Eastern remains undefeated at 10-0.

Eastern Brown

Class PTS REB AST STL BLK
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Minford

Class PTS REB AST STL BLK
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Details

Date League Season
December 21, 2019 SEO 2019-20

Court

Rio Grande

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