.jpg)
Eastern Montgomery snapped the Parry Mc-Cluer High School girls basketball team’s fivegame winning streak with a 55-30 victory in a Pioneer District matchup in Elliston on Friday night.
Maddie Bruce scored 18 points and Lilly Underwood added 12 for the Mustangs (11-2 overall, 2-0 district). Anna Claytor, Victoria Hamilton and Tatyana Turner scored eight points apiece for the Blues, who fell to 2-1 in district play. PM defeated Rockbridge County 47-24 on Saturday to improve to 9-2 overall.
EM shot 10-of-16 from three-point range and dominated the middle two quarters of Friday’s game. PM led 14-9 after the first period, but the Mustangs outscored the Blues 18-6 in the second quarter and 20-1 in the third stanza to take control.
PM was focused on containing Underwood and Bruce, EM’s top two offensive weapons. But several other players on the Mustangs’ veteran roster – which features seven seniors and a pair of juniors – stepped up.
Logan Boone was the key to EM’s third-quarter run, burying three 3-pointers in the period as part of her 11-point output, while Hailey Akers and Allison Bower each chipped in five points on the night. So even though the Blues shut out Underwood after halftime, the Mustangs’ lead continued to grow.
“The other folks [besides Bruce and Underwood] – for lack of a better word, they’re role players,” PM head coach Adam Gilbert said. “They took role players and blew that thing out the window. They were studs [on Friday] night.”
The Mustangs also handled the Blues’ normally stout defensive pressure well, committing just 12 turnovers in the game.
Claytor and Natalie Mohler secured five rebounds apiece for PM. But the Blues shot just 28 percent from the field, including a 2-of-13 mark from three-point range.
Gilbert expected EM to provide the Blues’ stiffest competition as PM looks to defend its Pioneer District title. Last year, the Blues beat EM 36-33 in the district finals. Friday’s game proved that the Mustangs – when at their best – are much deeper than some of the season stats might indicate.
“We had to give up something,” said Gilbert. “We were trying to help with Bruce and Underwood on the drive – knowing where they were at, and helping off on some of the other kids. They made us pay. Credit to their kids: they stepped up and hit the shots when they had to.”
PM was slated to play host to Nelson County last night. The Blues’ junior varsity squad will play host to Bath County on Friday at 6 p.m., while the varsity team returns to action at Craig County on Tuesday. Tuesday’s action will start with the JV game at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 7.
