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ELDON – Missing two players due to injury and illness, the Clarke Lady Indians held their own against the Cardinal Lady Comets who secured their first conference victory over the visiting team 57-49.
Cardinal burst out to a 7-0 lead to start the game before a foul sent Reagan Fry to the line where she made both baskets. The next play had Miah Graves steal a ball and passed off to Maisy McCoy who made her first of six 3-point shots of the night to put Clarke within two points. A triple by both teams brought Clarke within 1 point before the Comets drew ahead to close out the quarter with a 15-9 lead. Both teams put up 13 points in the second quarter to go into halftime with Cardinal ahead 28-22.
Clarke continued to try to find their way in front of the home team during the third quarter, out-scoring them in quarter points by three but still trailing 41-39 going into the fourth. Two points from Fry off of an assist by Taylor Kent tied the game to open the fourth, but Cardinal regrew their lead to 55-46 which CLarke was able to chip away at with a McCoy 3-point shot before Cardinal took the win.
In total, McCoy scored 21 points and Fry 19. Fry logged 18 rebounds and Kent 12 while McCoy had two steals.
Boys’ game
With a 15-point lead going into the fourth quarter Friday, the Clarke Indians found themselves facing a possible overtime as the Cardinal Comets rocketed back to within two points and less than a second on the clock.
After having trailed for most of the game, Cardinal added two points to their score to start the fourth quarter. Clarke answered with a 3-point from Ryan Diehl and a stolen ball and lay-up by Jordyn Deleon Elias to widen the gap to 18 points. Fouls on the Indians and triples by the Comets brought them closer to the visiting team’s score to trail 63-55 with just under 90 seconds left in the game.
As Clarke tried slow the pace, a pass from Rafael Avalos intended for Ethan Danley was stolen by Cardinal’s Cayden Courntey to allow Alijah Frase to put up three. A missed basket by Diehl was rebounded by Cardinal that had Frase in for another three from the corner to bring the score to 63-61 Clarke.
With 0.3 seconds left on the clock, Giza was set to inbound the ball. His pass in to Avalos was met by Frase racing in to tip the ball into the hands of teammate Paiden Rupe. Rupe put up a shot, but was not fast enough to beat the buzzer. The win bumped the Indians to 3-6 on the season.
Diehl scored 21 points in the contest with four made 3-pointers, Peyton Lynn 13 points with two triples, Danley 12 points and Deleon Elias 10. With 33 team rebounds, 22 of those were split by Diehl and Danley. Deleon Elias logged five steals while Diehl had four blocks.