Lady Warriors fall to Cutter Morning Star

NEWARK - The EPIC Lady Warriors fell to Cutter Morning Star in the 2-A State Tournament semifinal. The gut-wrenching loss came in a tightly-contested game which ended 47-44 and stood tied at halftime. Alison Gaines produced double-figure scoring despite the loss, as she finished with 13 points. Riley Ashcroft tallied 8 points and hit a pair of 3s. For the Lady Eagles, Libby Hood led the way with 15 points. Natalie Babb also provided double-digit scoring with 14 points.

Both teams found buckets hard to come by early on, as EPC scarcely outscored CMS 12-11 in the opening quarter. With their team’s offenses struggling to get going, Gaines and Hood took initiative and pressed the issue. Gaines finished the first quarter with 8 points, taking it to the rim repeatedly through contact. Hood ended period one with 6 points as she showed similar aggression in the low post.

The following quarter had a similar complexion. This time, the Lady Eagles just outscored their opponents. Although both teams continued to pound the ball inside, no buckets came easy. The physicality ramped up and so did the free throw count as a result. This intensity wasn’t too much for Freshman Cambria Williams, who took it straight at the defense and drew 3 shooting fouls during the period. She ended the quarter with 7 points. Despite EPC’s willingness to go up through contact and draw fouls, they shot 4 for 10 from the line in the second quarter. Cutter Morning Star could induce 4 trips to the line, but they shot 5 for 8 and outscored EPC in the quarter by a point. The teams were all square at halftime, 21-21.

The Lady Warriors had to play from behind after CMS doubled their scoring total in the 3rd quarter. Katelynn Guerin and Babb accounted for 6 points each, as Guerin netted a pair of shots from deep and Babb converted on a 3-pt play. Kyla Harston scored 4 in the quarter and Gaines scored 3, but EPC looked disjointed on offense. The Lady Eagles carried a 39-30 lead into the fourth stanza after an 18-9 third quarter.

Intensity ratcheted back up in the fourth period, as each possession became grittier. The Lady Warriors worked themselves back into the contest when Ashcraft drained a couple of threes. Her first brought the margin inside single-digits at 8 points, and her second deep ball tied the game with around 4 minutes to play. Moments later, Hood drove into the lane, spun as she picked up her dribble, and banked it in. The Lady Warriors got an opportunity to take the lead with just under a minute left when they fired from behind the arc twice during one possession, but couldn’t find the bottom of the basket. Their opponents grew the lead to 4 points with mere seconds left, and Riley Ashcraft drew a foul on a shot near halfcourt. After missing the first two shots at the line, EPC’s chance at a shock-ending faded.

EPC was plagued by missed free throws throughout the contest. They shot 9/19 from the charity stripe. Head Coach Spencer Harston was candid.

“It was a good run in the tournament. We came up against a good Morning Star team and we just didn’t hit the same shots we hit in the games prior. We missed at least 10 free throws. When you lose by 3 points and you miss that many free throws, then you know you had your chances. We just didn’t take them.”