Eastern seniors Bethany Neeley and Ally Oyler scored 22 and 18 points respectively, and the Class 2A No. 7-ranked Comets forced 27 turnovers in a 61-31 road win over Sheridan Saturday night in their season opener.
Eastern stretched a 12-point halftime advantage into a 32-point stronghold by the end of the third quarter, 53-21.
“We didn’t have a scrimmage and this was Sheridan’s third game of the year, so we were a little bit jittery in the first quarter,” Eastern coach Jeremy Dexter said. “We missed some open shots and weren’t quite doing some of the things we needed to do. In the second quarter, we got things together defensively and created some offensive things off of that in transition. We really opened it up in the third quarter, which allowed us to pull our starters and start to work on improving our bench depth. We were able to do that the last 11 or 12 minutes, and the girls continued to do good things and build on what the starters had done.”
Bethany Neeley also pulled down a team-high eight boards as Eastern outrebounded the Blackhawks (1-2) 21-12.
Oyler hit three 3-pointers during her stint on the court. She played the first three quarters without ever subbing out.
“She stepped up and knocked down some shots for us, and also served as our safety on defense,” Dexter said of Oyler. “We need her to keep focusing on her shooting. Her 18 points and defensive safety role were vital.”
Western 58, Frankfort 48
Western hit the winning column in its second contest of the season by defeating Frankfort by 10.
The Panthers (1-1) led all the way with a 20-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, 33-26 at halftime, and 42-30 at the end of the third quarter with the final being 58-48.
“Overall, we came out of the gates well with our press, but then we took too many quick shots,” Western coach Chris Keisling said. “We didn’t [shoot] well in transition. Frankfort started to hit free throws. We had a big third quarter, and we raided the bench. Frankfort came back from 30 points down to the final 10.”
Raven Black led Western with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Allison Lindley added 11 points, and Jessica Givens contributed with 10 points and six rebounds.
Sports
Comets soar in opener
No. 7 Eastern girls trample Sheridan by 30.
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Comets wear crown
In a softball game that was every bit the pitchers’ duel many were expecting, Tipton senior stud Shelby Hursh and Eastern junior ace Abby Oyler went head-to-head for nine innings in Friday’s Class 2A Eastern Sectional final.
When the smallest of doors cracked open late in extra innings, it was the Comets who were able to sneak through. -
Northwestern takes down West Lafayette
Northwestern played a very solid game on both offense and defense in defeating West Lafayette 8-5 in the opening round of the IHSAA Class 3A Peru Baseball Sectional Thursday night.
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10 area athletes advance to boys track state finals
Austin Roark’s first season as the head boys track and field coach at Eastern High School just keeps getting better and better.
A week after guiding the Comets to their first sectional title since 1998, Roark will join six of his athletes at next weekend’s IHSAA state finals after advancing out of Thursday’s Kokomo Regional at Walter Cross Field. -
Eastern dominates Taylor in softball
GREENTOWN — The third time turned out not to be the charm for the Taylor softball squad as Eastern improved to 3-0 on the season over its backyard rival Wednesday night, ousting the Titans from the Class 2A Eastern Sectional 15-0 in five innings.
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Barnes sets Taylor's career hits record
Taylor baseball standout Logan Barnes made his final game at George Phares Field one to remember.
Barnes pitched four solid innings to lead Taylor past Monroe Central 9-3 Tuesday. In addition, he went 2 for 3 at the plate, pushing his career hits total to a school-record 142. -
Kats drop heartbreaker
When the postseason arrives, emotions surge like a roller-coaster. One minute, it’s a long uphill, then a wild series of events offer a barrage of frights and thrills. And then, for one team, the ride ends and there aren’t any more tickets for another go around.
After two days of chills and thrills, Kokomo’s softball team ran out of tickets Tuesday night in the Class 4A Harrison Sectional. The Kats dropped a 4-3 decision to Harrison in eight innings, giving up a run in the top of the extra frame, and having a runner tagged out at home in the bottom of the frame.
“It was a great game,” Harrison coach Dick Mitchell said. “It’s always nerve-wracking to coach in one of them, but both teams played their hearts out. Nobody deserved to lose that game, but unfortunately somebody does.” -
Comets turn heads at track regional
Heading into Tuesday’s IHSAA girls track and field regional at Fort Wayne Northrop High School’s Spuller Stadium, event workers alike weren’t sure of Eastern High School’s location.
After the dust settled, they may feel compelled to get a map out and find out where Greentown is located.
Led by seniors Sarah Wagner, Brittany Neeley and Bethany Neeley, the Comets qualified for the state finals in six separate events to finish fourth as a team with 55.5 points, behind host and champion Northrop (78), Bellmont (68) and Carroll (Allen) 66. -
GASKINS: Hibbert’s block was thing of beauty
For the better part of the NBA season, ESPN devoted all kinds of time on SportsCenter episodes to replays of two dunks. Anyone who watches any ESPN at all surely knows the two to which I’m referring: 6-foot-11 DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers posterizing 6-3 Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons, and 6-8 LeBron James of the Miami Heat hammering home a dunk over 6-2 Jason Terry of the Boston Celtics.
Day after day, ESPN commentators lavished endless praise, which quickly grew tiresome. The dunks were strong, but Jordan and James were much taller and heavier than Knight and Terry and the dunkers also caught perfect alley-oop passes with the defenders in poor positions to defend. Still, ESPN commentators loved these plays.
I kept wondering if a great defensive play would receive the same kind of love. -
Coons, Walker, Glassburn reach Victory Lane
When the dust settled Sunday evening at the Kokomo Speedway, a pair of drivers who have visited Victory Lane in the past at the local oval found themselves there once again while a talented up-and-comer hit the hallowed ground for the first time.
Jerry Coons Jr. had his way in the sprint car feature and Craig Walker seemed to get faster as the laps wound down to win the Street Stock main event, however Kokomo High School sophomore Kory Glassburn had to scratch and fight before scoring the first feature win of his career in the Thunder Car A-main. -
Field is set for Indianapolis 500
After being bumped from the starting field while sitting on the qualifying line on pole day, Josef Newgarden turned the fastest time on bump day, assuring himself a spot in the Indianapolis 500.
The field of 33 cars will have one final opportunity to practice on Friday before next Sunday’s 97th running of the 500.
One year ago the Sarah Fisher Racing Team withdrew Newgarden’s entry on the first day of qualifying and had to qualify on bump day. This year the team decided not to make another qualifying run and got bumped. - More Sports Headlines
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