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Photos by Kenneth Armstrong
ROSE HILL – Lacey Suggs started East Bladen’s run to its third consecutive Four County Conference girls’ basketball tournament championship. Her teammates finished it off.
Suggs scored 21 of her game-high 27 points in the first half and the Eagles outscored Clinton 40-9 in the second half Friday night en route to a convincing 76-37 victory at Union High School.
Freshmen Ja’Tyra Moore-Peterson scored 16 points, including four 3-pointers, Emily Scott added 12 and Christiana Cromartie had 11 as East Bladen improved its season record to 27-0. The Eagles are expected to learn Saturday their opponent in next week’s Class 2-A state playoffs.
Alex Canady scored 14 and Brielle Mitchell had 12 for Clinton, 22-5 with three of its losses coming against East Bladen.
“It’s always nice to win a championship, but at the same time, we weren’t happy at halftime,” East Bladen coach Patty Evers said. “At the half, Lacey had 21 and I told them this can’t happen. She can’t do everything. We challenged everybody else to step up, and they responded.”
Suggs, a senior who surpassed the 2,000-point mark for her career Wednesday, poured in 16 points in a wild first quarter that saw East Bladen take a 23-20. Canady and Mitchell combined for 16 points for Clinton. The game was tied four times and the lead changed five times.
A basket by Clinton’s Charica Joyner gave the Dark Horses a 28-27 lead with three minutes left in the second quarter. East Bladen closed with a 3-pointer by Moore-Peterson, and a free throw and layup by Suggs for a 33-28 halftime lead.
Unlike the Jan. 26 meeting when Clinton pushed East Bladen to the closing seconds before the Eagles pulled out a 42-38 win, Friday’s championship game wasn’t a contest in the second half.
“We hit outside shots (tonight),” Evers said. “We might have made two outside shots (Jan. 26), but this time, in the second half, it was a different team.”
Scott started it with a 15-foot jumper only 10 seconds into the third quarter that gave East Bladen a 35-28 advantage. Cromartie made a free throw, Scott connected again, and Cromartie followed with a basket that made it 40-28 with 4:50 left in the third quarter.
East Bladen outscored Clinton 26-5 in the third. Cromartie had seven points, Scott made three baskets, Moore-Peterson sank a pair of 3-pointers, and Abby Ward made a 3-pointer as the Eagles took a 59-33 lead. Suggs scored four in period, but had to leave the game for two minutes of playing time because of blood on her shirt. Her teammates outscored Clinton 5-1 during that stretch.
Shardajah Brown capped the scoring for East Bladen with a 3-pointer in the closing seconds, sending the Eagles into the playoffs with a dominating second half performance.
“We needed a game like this to get ready for next week,” Evers said.
EAST BLADEN (76) – Abby Ward 7, Shardajah Brown 3, Emily Scott 12, Lacey Suggs 27, Christiana Cromartie 11, Ja’Tyra Moore-Peterson 16.
CLINTON (37) – Brielle Mitchell 12, Alania Capps 1, Ashlyn Williams 2, Alex Canady 14, Charica Joyner 6, Edye Carr 2.
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