ALBION-Friday marked a special day in Eastside Girls’ Basketball lore. The Blazers used a 17-0 2nd quarter run to blaze through the Central Noble Lady Cougars 58-23 to clinch a share of the NECC title. Meanwhile, the Westview Warriors helped Eastside clinch an outright title with a come-from-behind win over their arch-rivals Fairfield 46-40.
This is the first time in 33 years that Eastside (22-1, 9-0 NECC) has claimed a NECC girls’ basketball title, and it’s the first time ever that Eastside has won a conference championship and a conference tournament in the same season. If you look over the history of this program, this championship marks just the fifth conference championship of any kind for this Eastside program.
The game was essentially before the starters were even introduced as Central Noble (11-9, 7-2 NECC), who had already lost to Eastside by 15 in the NECC Tournament, had to play this same Blazers team without their leading scorer Abby Pliett. Reportedly, Pliett was under the weather and unable to attend school, thus not playing the game.
As a result, the outcome for the home team was quite noticeable of Pliett’s absence. Central Noble led once the entire game on a Kaydintz Bales three-pointer just a few minutes into the game. After that, Eastside cruised the rest of the way.
The Blazers jumped out to a 12-6 lead after the first quarter holding the Cougars to just two Kaydintz Bales three-pointers. Reality settled in very quickly in the second quarter when the Blazers shut out the Cougars going into the locker room with a 23-point halftime lead.
Eastside shot 55% from the floor in the first half and was 5-9 from distance. On the other side, well, it was not good. Central Noble shot 2-14 from the floor in the first half and 2-10 from distance. This game was an indication of Eastside being a complete buzzsaw to their shorthanded opposition, and how important Pliett is to the Cougars.
The 3rd quarter was a small positive moment for the Cougars as they were able to cut it down to 20 thanks to the emergence of Grace Swank (8 points) and Kaydintz Bales (11 points, 3 3-pointers).
The Blazers dominated the 4th quarter to essentially wrap-up the NECC championship. Lily Kreischer, who’s been the team’s leading scorer and rebounder all season long, finished with 16 points. Taylor Mack added 14 and a pair of triples, while Indiana Tech commit Sydnee Kessler added 10. On the game, Eastside shot 48% from the floor and drained 7 threes in this game.
Boys Central Noble 58, Eastside 39
Central Noble (4-9, 1-4 NECC) picked up their first NECC win of the season with the win over winless Eastside (0-12, 0-5 NECC). While it was not the prettiest of games, the Cougars made enough plays to get it done led by Colt Kirkpatrick’s 14 points, 8 rebounds, and drew his 15th charge of the season. Eastside was led by Evan Elden with 11 points and drained a pair of threes in that contest.