By Rob Ginter - Staff Writer
Being crowned Commercial Bank Queen of the Bluegrass was on a busy schedule lately for the Lady Raiders that entailed five games in six days. Coach Hager Easterling says the tournament was really competitive.
“It’s something we always look forward to,” Easterling said. “The way you know it’s good is if you have people calling you to ask to play in it. We didn’t just put together a tournament for us to win three games, we wanted to put together a good tournament.”
East won the Commercial Bank Queen of The Bluegrass crown by knocking off Breathitt County 54-52.
“Breathitt is the top team in the 14th region,” Easterling said. “They’ve won the region two or three years in a row now. It was just two teams that went at each other and gave it all they had.”
After their big rivalry win over West Carter, the East girls split contests with a 43-35 loss against Notre Dame Academy of Northern Kentucky and a 69-40 blowout of Raceland.
“Notre Dame is a really good team,” Easterling said. “They’ve beaten a lot of good teams like Elizabethtown which is a top 5 team in the state. It was a 5-point game in the fourth quarter. We got some good shots and missed them. We got a little rest,” Easterling said.
“The Notre Dame game made five games in six days and that’s tough on a team that relies on outside shooting like we do.”
Senior Jessica Marshall who had 12 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists led the Lady Raiders in scoring against Notre Dame Academy. Junior Lakota Burge chipped in 8 points and 7 boards; Senior Kristin Easterling had 7 points and 5 assists for East in the contest.
“We came out rested and played some pretty good defense against Raceland,” Easterling said. “We just got after it and shot the ball pretty well. It was a good win for us. They are a good team. It’s always good to bounce back from a loss with a win. It’s always a good sign when your team does that.”
Against Raceland the Lady Raiders were led by Burge who had 21 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Marshall had 16 points, 9 boards and two steals, Junior Ashley Sargent chipped in 9 point and 3 rebounds, Easterling had 5 points and 7 assists, Sophomore Jade Stumbo had 5 points and 3 rebounds, Freshman Lexie Cline had 4 points and 3 rebounds.
“I think they found out more about themselves than I found out about them. I already knew they were a tough bunch to reach down inside themselves and just fight and compete. I think they did a good job of that against Notre Dame even though they got beat. Even though you lose a game it doesn’t mean that you’re a failure. I think we learned a lot.
“It’s a great bunch of kids to work with and it makes coaching fun,” Easterling said. “They had a good year so far. I think they’ll continue to do that.”
