03/28/2024
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Senior Lacey Suggs poured in 28 points Tuesday night to lead the unbeaten East Bladen Lady Eagles to a 69-37 girls basketball victory over North Brunswick in the East Bladen Holiday Classic.

Suggs also collected 7 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, 4 assists and 3 steals. Senior guard Abby Ward barely missed a double-double with 10 points, 9 assists and 3 steals.

Freshman Ashley Hardin tossed in a career-high 12 points and grabbed 3 rebounds for the Lady Eagles, and freshman Ja’Tyra Moore-Peterson pumped in 8 points and dished out 3 assists.

Senior Christiana Cromartie blocked 10 shots, pulled down 3 rebounds and had 2 assists. Senior Miller Heustess added 3 rebounds and 2 assists, and junior Emily Scott collected 4 rebounds.

Suggs drove for 2 lay-ups and dished out assists to Ward and Hardin for lay-ups as the Lady Eagles edged in front 8-6. North’s Taylor Perkins flipped in a baseline runner and tacked on a free throw to vault the visitors ahead 9-8.

Back came Suggs who canned a 12-foot runner, was fouled and hit the free throw for an 11-9 lead. The Lady Scorpions’ Unique Hines tied the game a final time 11-11 with a rebound basket.

Moore-Peterson muscled in a rebound, and Ward popped in a 6-foot runner then assisted on a Suggs lay-up. A Ward steal led to another Suggs lay-up and a 19-11 East lead at the quarter break.

Heustess connected from 16 feet to start the second period. Cromartie sent a pass to Suggs for a lay-up, then nailed a 17-foot jumper. Ward pumped in a 16-footer then assisted on back-to-back lay-ups for Suggs that stretched the Lady Eagle halftime lead to 31-14.

Suggs sank 5 of 6 free throws to start the third quarter, then raced for a lay-up off of an in-bounds pass from Heustess. Scott and Hardin dropped in lay-ups, and Hardin and Moore-Peterson sank 2 free throws each as the East Bladen lead grew to 49-23 at the third quarter break.

Suggs hit 2 free throws and drove for a lay-up in the first 37 seconds of the final quarter. Hardin turned assists from Heustess and Ward into lay-ups that pushed the lead to 60-29.

Junior Lexie Mendell banked in a pull-up 10-footer, Hardin put back a rebound, and Moore-Peterson made 2 free throws for a 66-35 lead. Mendell hit a free throw, and Danielle McDowell capped the Lady Eagle scoring with a lay-up.

“We needed this,” said Coach Patty Evers. “We knew their pressure was coming. They are quick, scrappy and a very good team.”

Perkins topped the Lady Scorpion scoring with 15 points, and teammate Jada Bellamy added 10 points.

East Bladen improves to 12-0 and will be idle until Jan. 4 when they resume Four County Conference play against Pender.

East Bladen (69) – Abby Ward 10, Lexie Mendell 3, Shardajah Brown, Emily Scott 2, Lacey Suggs 28, Miller Heustess 2, Danielle McDowell 2, Christiana Cromartie 2, Ashley Hardin 12, Ja’Tyra Moore-Peterson 8.

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