ELIZABETHTOWN — No 43-point beat-down this time. And no need for another trip to the bowling alley.
East Bladen’s 58-47 overtime loss to unbeaten league leader St. Pauls on Tuesday night in girls high school basketball was about as big a reversal as possible.
Their initial meeting for first place last month was the end of the Lady Eagles’ 43-game winning streak against league foes. The second clash, again with league supremacy at stake, nearly yielded them a share of the Three Rivers Conference lead when few thought a championship this year was remotely possible.
And bowling? That was senior Abbie Cross’ idea the night after that humbling Jan. 3 defeat.
“They didn’t have any confidence in themselves,” 19th-year head coach Patty Evers said. “They’re not used to losing. Even the freshmen would come to watch the games. I think it devastated them. So when we went over to St. Pauls, we were shocked.”
Not this time, not at home where they had yet to lose a game this year.
“I drilled into them you don’t have to have skill to play defense,” Evers said. “We just threw a different defensive scheme at them, and my girls played it to perfection.”
And with much more cohesiveness than existed when the team suffered through that program rarity of three consecutive defeats, the last of which was to the now 20-0 Lady Bulldogs.
“We were losing some of our chemistry,” Evans said of what Cross’ impromptu idea did for the team. “We needed to get together, and get that bond back.”
The head coach tweeted afterward how much she loved her team. Ten games later, the affection has only grown.
“Gosh, the girls played good defense and did what they had to do,” Evers said, her pride spilling out for all 12 team members’ efforts preparing in practice. “They got in foul trouble early, and it helped us. We got in foul trouble late, and it helped them. I don’t really think people expected that, but I did out of this group.”
The first meeting’s mercy rule running clock, miscues turned into a St. Pauls layup line, and so many other frustrations never repeated. The hosts suffered through about six minutes without a point in the first half and fell behind by double figures, but they never ran away from the challenge.
Sophomore Alexus Mitchell drew three charges in the first 10 minutes of the game, and another in overtime. She had a team-high 16 points and three steals. Sophomore Maya McDonald was spectacular with 14 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals. Seniors Patience Ward and Lorna Mendell, respectively, had nine points and eight rebounds.
“Alexus played on a different level. We worked on that in practice,” Evers said of Mitchell drawing charges. “Don’t run at them. We’ve been getting fouls called on us because we run at them. So we’ve tried to teach them in practice to take a different angle, how to get there, move their body. She did a super job.”
East Bladen surged in the third quarter when St. Pauls head coach Mike Moses opted to switch to a 1-3-1 zone, and on offense tried to exhaust the clock.
“We had to see the floor, see where everybody is at,” McDonald said. “Them holding the ball made us talk more on the court, and open up our minds to what is happening.”
Evans added, “It was a little nerve-racking but it kind of just motivated us more.”
Disrespected?
“Yeah,” Evans said.
“We took it personally,” McDonald said.
So they rallied, further endearing themselves to a coach with 500-plus wins capable of winning any basketball chess match.
McDonald’s 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter pulled the hosts within 31-28 and Mitchell, converting McDonald’s rebound, got the Eagle’s Nest capacity crowd on its feet scoring on a fastbreak to give East Bladen its first lead, 31-30, since 6-3.
Seven more lead changes later, the teams went to overtime deadlocked at 42. Evans’ bucket at 1:52 gave the Lady Eagles a 42-39 lead, T.J. Eichelberger’s putback with a minute to go tied it. St. Pauls’ Iyania Evans, who scored 23 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, was to have the final shot but traveled with less than a second left against the guard of Mendell in the low post.
In OT, St. Pauls never trailed and pulled away as attrition from fouls plagued both teams. Mendell and McDonald exited with their fifths less than two minutes in and East Bladen down by five. Freshman Anna Grey Heustess got two of that back, but her team got no closer. Evans fouled out with 1:39 to go and East Bladen down six.
Four players from East Bladen fouled out; three from St. Pauls did likewise.
The Lady Eagles go to East Columbus on Friday with an 18-4 overall mark, 12-2 in the Three Rivers Conference. St. Pauls is 13-0 in the league and can clinch no worse than a tie for the regular season title, and the No. 1 seed to the playoffs, on Friday at third-place West Bladen.
“We had to come out with a different mindset,” McDonald said. “They’re a good team, a real good team. But we matched their energy tonight.
“We left it all on the court.”
East Bladen’s Alexus Mitchell drives the baseline in the second half on Tuesday night in a 58-47 overtime loss to St. Pauls.
East Bladen head coach Patty Evers makes the customary pregame visit with Scoop Campbell, a regular on her bench.
East Bladen’s Lorna Mendell rebounds and gets a pass to teammate Maya McDonald amid St. Paul defenders (from left) Iyania Evans, Taliya Council and Tamyra Council.