The Lady Eagles hosted St. John's Prep on Tuesday night.
These two teams played earlier in the season, with the Eagles coming away with a lopsided victory. But this time it's a much different setting with more on the line.
It was a pretty even first half of play, both teams were trying to push the pace and were able to capitalize on the defenses trailing behind. EC was eventually able to make a few defensive stands which helped them to pull out to a 10 point lead. Just when it seemed like they were going to take over the game, SJP came back and cut the deficit back to only a couple of possessions. It continued to be a back and forth game with neither team was able to take control. Late in the half, the Eagles once again got out to a 10 point lead and this time it held up going into half 31-21.
The 2nd half began with the Eagles going on a 9-0 run to expand their lead to 40-21. It felt that now the Eagles had finally taken over and wouldn't look back. As the 2nd half wore both teams continued to play hard. EC's aggressive was paying off they had 20 steals in the 1st half and 28 total, but that aggressiveness did take its toll. They picked up 12 fouls in the 2nd half and St John's was able to capitalize on many of their free throw attempts. Even with this the Eagles never surrendered the lead and went on to win the game 67-40.
East Central's win will push them to the next round of the playoffs. They'll play on Thursday at Braham, which will be their third meeting of the season.
Scoring
East Central:
Lucy Laursen 19
Kennadee Volk 17
Hayden Loew 8
Elsie Laursen and Ashlyn Loew 7
Chandra Nelson 6
Adeline Presley 2
Sophia Ecklund 1
