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.

New Boston 47, Greenup County 41

by Paul Boggs

The New Boston Lady Tigers improved to 8-3 — getting a nice bounce-back from Thursday night’s loss at Notre Dame by clipping their Bluegrass State neighbor Greenup County.

The Lady Tigers, who drove their “Lexus” on Saturday as in senior standout Lexus Oiler, raced out to a 25-13 advantage with 2:45 remaining in the opening half.

The Lady Tigers held the lead for the final almost 30 minutes, maintaining a lead ranging from four to 12 points over the final 29.

New Boston led 17-11 at the first stop, 28-21 at halftime and 38-32 after three frames.

The lead ranged from four to nine points over the final 11 minutes and 12 seconds, as Oiler amounted all 20 of her points — including a third-quarter three-point goal — through three quarters.

New Boston went to the five-foot nine-inch versatile Oiler early and often on Saturday, as she finished with eight total field goals and 3-of-5 free throws, including six baskets and two freebies for 14 first-half points.

The Lady Tigers and Oiler especially attacked the basket, and her Tiger teammates moved the ball well with the aim of getting her the rock.

“I thought Greenup did a good job of recognizing where she (Oiler) was, but she is just one of those players that is very smart and does a good job of finding the right spot and the right drives and the right shots for us,” said New Boston coach Kayla Wiley. “She is a very good, smart player.”

But Oiler had help both early and late, as fellow senior Taylen Hickman hit two first-half three-pointers towards eight points — and sophomore Kenzie Whitley scored nine of her 11 in the second half, including a three to make it 41-34 with only 5:56 remaining.

“Taylen (Hickman) hit a couple of threes to give us a lift when we weren’t hitting shots in the first half, and Kenzie (Whitley) hit that big three in the fourth quarter when we were struggling to score,” said Wiley.

That started a stretch of five minutes and 23 seconds in which the Lady Tigers held the Musketeers scoreless, as they pushed the lead up to 11 (45-34) — after Sammy Oiler’s steal and layup and Whitley’s mid-range floating jumper in the lane.

The Tigers did miss their first four fourth-quarter free throws, enabling the Musketeers to score seven straight points — including an Emma Frazier three-ball — over two minutes and 10 seconds to slice the deficit to 45-41 with 25 seconds remaining.

However, Sammy Oiler ended the threat — connecting on both of a one-and-one foul-shot situation.

Oiler scored six points, as she also sank two second-stanza free throws — while Shelby Easter added a first-quarter field goal.

Wiley said the win was a total team effort, which began with New Boston beginning the contest by playing with energy.

The Lady Tigers also excelled at turning the Musketeers over, frequently running through the passing lanes.

“I thought we started the game that way, but I just wish we would keep that energy for four quarters. I know it’s hard right now because I’m playing a six-man, sometimes a seven-man rotation. We called a timeout to do a better job of stunting and getting in those passing lanes and being in the driving lanes and helping each other out. I thought we did a much better job of that in the fourth quarter,” said Wiley.

Lexie Carroll with 11 points and Frazier with 10 points paced Greenup County, which fell to 2-6.

The Lady Tigers, which have already completed the first half of their season, are off for 10 days before playing again — on Thursday, Jan. 2 at SOC I rival Western.