Over the last 15 girls basketball seasons, Columbus North has “owned” East Central winning 21 of the previous 22 games. However, that one victory for the Trojans did come in their last pairing from a season ago, the 4A Sectional 14 championship.
Thursday night on WRBI, EC proved the 2021 title win was not a fluke as the host Trojans beat the Bull Dogs again 47-31. Coach Kevin Moore’s 13th ranked ladies from St. Leon were absolutely relentless on defense and held C-North to just 25 percent shooting from the floor.
East Central struggled shooting early on, leading just 3-0 through the first four minutes. But by the end of the first quarter, the Trojans were up 13-2. The Bull Dogs only bucket of the period came with 21 seconds left.
By intermission, EC had a 27-9 advantage with Hope Fox scoring 14 points and Josie Trabel adding seven. Kylah Lawson recorded six for the Dogs.
A low scoring third quarter was played evenly as EC carried a 32-14 lead into the fourth.
The favorable margin reached 22 early in the closing quarter before Columbus North’s Lauren Barker caught fire. The team’s leading scorer had been held to just two points over the first 24 minutes but hit a trio of triples in the final stanza to draw the Dogs within 11.
However, East Central made seven of its last eight free throws to help secure its second straight win over a difficult sectional foe, 47-31.
Fox finished with a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds for a double double. Trabel tallied 13 points and was one board shy of her own double dip with nine. Laney Baker added eight points, four assists and three steals.
Both Barker and Lawson logged 11 points for Columbus North. Lawson garnered five rebounds. Andrea Justis only scored two points but had six boards, four steals, three blocks.
The victory was East Central’s fourth in a row and the loss for Columbus North ended a six-game winning streak.
In addition to holding down the Bull Dog’s shooting efficiency to converting just one-in-four, East Central also won the battle of the boards by 12.
Columbus North won the JV game 46-21 and got 10 points from Sydney Johnson and nine from Greta Brown. Emily Klem’s seven points were best for the EC reserves and Meredith Sizemore added six.
We thank East Central AD Don Stonefield for the accommodiations and hospitality plus coaches Kevin Moore and Brett White for their information and time in our pregame show.