East Mills rallies late in win over Sidney

MALVERN - They trailed for all of three quarters.

But you couldn’t see that on the East Mills players’ faces.

The Wolverines trailed by as many nine points and didn’t snag their first lead until a minute remained in the third quarter in a 54-51 win over Sidney in Corner Conference girls basketball Friday in Malvern.

“That first quarter was kind of a wake up call,” said East Mills coach Lexi Moreno after the game. “That first quarter it didn’t look like it was going to go our way.

The Wolverines trailed by four after the first quarter after allowing 23 points and committing nine turnovers.

“We were playing lazy, not getting back and let mistakes get to us,” Moreno said. “After the quarter I told the girls we had to stick together and communicate and I think that really helped us tonight.”

East Mills kept battling, never allowing the Cowgirls to pull away. Back-to-back buckets by Emily Williams helped the Wolverines take their first lead of the game at 40-38 with just over a minute to go in the third quarter.

The two teams would trade leads five times in the fourth before East Mills wrestled control away. A layup by Natalie Goodman and a free throw by Miah Urban gave the Wolverines a 52-49 lead with 1:48 to go. Aunika Hayes’ layup with :41 to go would cut it 52-51 but that’s as close as the Cowgirls would get.

Goodman hit two free throws with :22 to go and Avery Dowling’s three-point heave as time expired would ice the win for East mills.

The biggest changeup for the Wolverines in the win was Moreno pulling her team out of the full court pressure they opened the game in and switching to an aggressive half-court man-to-man that forced 20 turnovers and held Sidney to 38.8 percent shooting.

“Games like these, they’re gut checks in the first quarter,” Moreno said. “We had to be physical and talk. That’s what works for us. That’s going to get us wins. We really believe in that, and they believed in it.”

Goodman led East Mills with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Urban chipped in 14 and Williams and Crouse each added 12. Williams also pulled down 14 rebounds and dished out five assists.

Dowling led Shenandoah with 17 points.
 
East Mills 56,
Essex 26

East Mills jumped out to an 18-3 first quarter lead and cruised to a 56-26 win over Essex in Corner Conference girls’ basketball last Tuesday.

The Wolverines overcame their own cold-shooting night with a defensive effort that held the Trojans to 20.8 percent shooting – 11-of-53 – and forcing 14 turnovers. They also held a 57 to 39 rebounding edge.

Emily Williams led East Mills with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six steals. Natalie Goodman added 11 points and six rebounds.

Brianne Johnson led Essex with 12 points.