Published: February 13, 2008 02:32 pm            

Top-ranked Rowan halts Lady Raider win streak, 67-47

No. 3 East had taken five in a row before falling Monday

MOREHEAD - Brittany Dearfield canned a three-pointer at 3:11 in the opening quarter and pulled East Carter to within a point at Rowan County, Monday night.

Just 48 hours earlier the Lady Raiders pumped in 11 field goals from behind the arc in a win at West Virginia power Huntington-St. Joe and that stat must have been on the mind of Lady Viking coach Scott Tackett.

Following Dearfield’s trifecta, Tackett stomped his foot and motioned for a timeout. Coming out of the break, the 16th region’s top-ranked team went on a 20-8 run over the next five minutes on their way to the 67-47 win over Hager Easterling’s club.

Known for their aggressive defense and steal-and-score offense, the hosts did a lot of damage from the outside against the generally sharp-shooting girls from Grayson. Rowan County, which led by as much as 27 in the second half, nailed 10 three-pointers in beating East Carter for the second time this season.

“They hit a lot of shots, a lot of three’s on us. We weren’t so much expecting them to do that,” Lady Raider senior Brianna Buck told The Journal-Times. “We knew they just liked going to the basket. And we had some trouble in bounding the ball against their defense, that press. We had practiced and we knew how they’d play us -- we just didn’t do what we were supposed to.”

Katherine White tossed in a three-pointer at 5:36 in the third to pull the girls from Grayson to within a dozen, 37-25. But Nicole Barr put the Lady Vikings back in front by 14 points. Lindsay Combs went on a mini run of her own for a quick six points to make it 44-31 in favor of the hosts at 3:11.

“We really did get our shots off but we just didn’t hit,” Combs, who led East Carter with 16 points, said. “We wanted to get it down inside because we knew we were bigger than they were in the post, but Rowan County can really steal the ball -- we’re used to setting up our offense and they didn’t let us. That really kept us from getting any momentum.”

That pressure forced 18 steals from the Lady Raiders.

“Geez! they just come right at you,” Buck said. “They make you rush your offense and your shots. If you sit there with the ball, they just steal it away from you.”

White finished with 11 points and Buck added 10 for Easterling’s club. Dearfield had five and Lakota Burge and Kristin Easterling each chipped in two.

The varsity and junior varsity Lady Raider clubs did score victories over Boyd County and St. Joe prior to the Rowan County contests.

Combs had a double double with 19 points and 15 rebounds in the 59-44 win at Boyd County last Saturday. Dearfield added a dozen and the varsity club outrebounded the Lions, 42-20. The 36-29 Junior Varsity victory improved the reserve girls from Grayson to 35-over the past three seasons. East put in a big second half, outscoring the hosts 26-13, to take the win. Jade Stumbo had 11 points and nine rebounds and Jessica Marshall finished with nine points and nine boards.

Easterling led a trio of varsity Lady Raiders in double figures in the 66-60 win in Huntington with 18 points. Dearfield was close behind with 16 points and Combs put in 10. Burge grabbed 11 rebounds and Combs pulled down seven. In the win over the top-ranked team in Class A in the state, East Carter hit 11 three-pointers. A big 23-7 through the third quarter led to the win. In the 42-23 JV win, Marshall and Sparks each scored 12 points and Sargent cleared the boards for nine rebounds.

        

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