FAIRLAND — It is never a good idea to get off to a slow start.
It is particularly not beneficial when facing the No. 5 team in the state.
In what has become a regular postseason occurrence, Eastern Hancock and Triton Central met in the sectional round of the IHSAA girls basketball state tournament.
On Friday, at Triton Central High School, the host Tigers, ranked No. 5 in Class 2A in the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association (ICGSA) poll defeated the Royals, 70-47, in the second of two semifinal games in Class 2A Sectional 42.
“Whenever you get down 7-0, that doesn’t sound like much, but against a team like that it’s hard to recover,” Eastern Hancock coach Shari Doud said. “We struggled to finish shots tonight and that’s never a good thing.
“We’re also playing a team that causes you to miss a lot of shots. Even though the score was lopsided, the kids didn’t ever show quit.”
Triton Central (19-3) scored the first seven points and led by seven, 16-9, at the end of the first quarter.
The Tigers extended the lead to double figures in the second and led 30-18 at the half.
On a few occasions, Eastern Hancock was able to work the margin down to seven or eight points, but each time the Tigers had an answer to thwart any Royal momentum gained.
Sophomore Grace Stapleton hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 32-25 with 5 minutes, 27 seconds left in the third, but less than one minute later Triton Central’s Lizzie Graham answered with a trey to get her team’s lead back to 10.
A lay-in for 6-foot frosh Ruby White, on a nice assist from Stapleton, cut it to eight, 35-27, but Graham answered again with a four-point play, nailing her second 3-pointer of the quarter and adding a free throw for a 39-27 Tigers advantage.
Eastern Hancock frosh Sammie Bolding scored off a steal for the final points of the third quarter, cutting Triton Central’s lead to 45-34, but the Royals were unable to get it under double figures in the final period.
As Doud mentioned, the Royals had their struggles from the field.
In the first half, Eastern Hancock hit just 26.9 percent of its shots (7 of 26) and only 11.1 percent (1 of 9) from 3-point range. Triton Central shot 50 percent (9 of 18) and made all three of its 3-point tries.
The Royals shot much better to start the second half. They hit 6 of 13 from the field in the third quarter (46.2 percent), but the Tigers had their best quarter of the night, hitting 6 of 8 (75 percent) to help negate five turnovers.
Eastern Hancock (13-9) said ‘goodbye’ to three seniors. All, Doud said, had different roles, but were very important to the team.
On Friday, senior Chloe O’Neal led the Royals in scoring with 17 points. She had 12 in the second half, including connecting on 3 of 4 attempts from 3-point range.
“She really put one together,” Doud said of O’Neal’s game. “I hate to go out with a loss when she had such an incredible senior performance tonight.”
It was also the final game for both Delaney Collins and Jaysa Melton.
“Those three have devoted a lot of hours in the program,” Doud added. “Those three brought their own special qualities that were a factor on this team over the course of the last four years.”
Along with O’Neal’s 17, Stapleton followed with 16. White had six and Bolding finished with five. Frosh Makenzie O’Neal had two points and junior Caroline Stapleton had one point.
Triton Central was led by point guard Taylor Heath with 20. Bailey Stamper had 19 and Graham finished with 12.
It was the third straight year the Tigers have eliminated the Royals in the sectional. It was the fifth time in the last six years the teams have met in the tournament. Eastern Hancock’s last sectional title came in 2017, a victory over Triton Central.
