Dec. 12, 2012 — After finishing last season as the Eastern Kentucky Conference runner-up, the East Carter Lady Raiders continued a pretty impressive trend by grabbing EKC gold.
East Carter (4-0), picked up yet another large victory margin, breezing past another 16th Region opponent in Fleming County, by a score of 70-33 last Thursday in West Liberty.
Lady Raider Head Coach Hager Easterling said it’s definitely nice to win the EKC, but this team has bigger plans.
“We won the EKC, I’m happy for the kids, but that’s not our ultimate goal,” Easterling said. “It’s Dec. 6, and there is still a lot of basketball left to play this year. No coach is ever satisfied, and I’m not trying to be a downer, but I still think we’re not as good as we can be.”
In what turned out to be East Carter’s fourth-straight victory by 20 points or more, two baskets by sophomore center Kelsey Stumbo started to detail the writings on the wall as East took a 12-4 lead to end the first quarter.
The second period was the straw that broke the camels back for Fleming County, as Stumbo picked up six more inside and sophomore guard Megan Stickler added 8.
Stumbo and Stickler, who led the way for East Carter on the night scoring 14 apiece, said their it is not necessarily aimed for to win big, but it’s something that just comes with the territory.
“We just try to come out and be ready to play, and we try to jump on teams early if we can,” Stickler said.
Stumbo agreed.
“Last year we kind of fell short in big games, and we don’t want to do that this year, we want to win a few more championships.”
East Carter went on to outscore Fleming County, 36-23, in the final two periods of play, making for the 37-point win.
Joining Stumbo and Stickler in double-figures was Haley Hall who added 11. Senior forward Corina Gee added seven, while usual double-digit scorers Kristen Mayo and Bryana Greenhill played distributors, scoring five and six points on the night.
Stumbo also tallied a double double, pulling in 12 rebounds to along with her 14 points.
The Lady Raiders are amid an eight-day break before they head to Ashland Blazer this Friday for a showdown of the region’s two top-ranked teams.
Grant Stevens can be reached at gstevens@journal-times.com or by telephone at 1-800-247-6142.
