G-C's Cruz departs with name etched in school record book

The Eastern Hancock girls’ basketball team’s extraordinary season came to an abrupt end Tuesday night as the Royals dropped their Class 2A Sectional 41 opener against Hagerstown 53-22.

A 15-3 run by the Tigers (20-2) to begin the contest proved too much to overcome. EH was led by Kiersten Schrope and Kristen Eischen, both of whom scored six points. Schrope also added three steals and Eischen grabbed five rebounds.

“Their 2-2-1 press the first quarter and a half gave us trouble because we tried to go into the teeth of their defense,” EH coach Jeremy Powers said. “They got after us in the halfcourt and we hadn’t seen a team defend us like that since Mt. Vernon.”

After an 11-4 start, EH dropped five of its last six games against stiff competition to finish its first season under Powers at 12-9. As of Wednesday, the combined record of Centerville, Triton Central and Hagerstown, the last three teams Eastern faced to end the season, was 54-9.

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