Eagles bury Harrells
Dec. 19—The Lady Crusaders took to the road Monday evening to face off against the Wayne Christian Eagles. From the get go, Harrells couldn't put anything together as they watched the Eagles score at will through all four quarters. The Lady Crusaders were sent home in crushing defeat, 57-21.
Harrells came out tough in the first minute of play as they kept the Eagles at bay, but this was truly the last strong effort. Halfway through the first quarter, nothing seemed to go right for the visitors. Passes were off target, dribbles were uncontained and communication was nonexistent. Wayne Christian stole three passes and converted them to fastbreak points within a minute, putting them ahead 8-2.
The Eagles used their size and bullied the smaller guards who tired to get something going. Down in the paint the strife was much the same. Everywhere they turned there was a white jersey standing in front of them. Georgia Pope, Sabrina Batts and Chloe Bowles had been stopped in their tracks while taking a dive into the paint with nothing to show for it other than losing possession.
This morphed into a one sided slugfest with Harrells taking the beating. By the end of the first quarter, the Lady Crusaders had a huge mountain to overcome with the score 24-6.
The next round was no better. At the four minute mark, the Lady Crusaders had only added two to the board while the Eagles put up nine as the game spiraled out of control. Point after point, Wayne Christian looked unstoppable. Nothing seemed to go wrong on their end, every pass hit the mark, every shot fell right through the basket and steals were a dime a dozen for them. What little points the Crusaders scored all came from the charity line, all five of them. At halftime, there was little hope for a comeback with the score 46-11.
The second half of the game didn't really change much, the mercy clock became active roughly three minutes into the third when the Eagles began swapping out their stars for the second string. Even then, Harrells struggled to make anything happen for them. Batts would show some fire in gullet, snatching back to back steals for some quick points and sink a pretty three shot, but it was all to no avail. The Harrells motor had stalled out for the game and the Eagles took the victory handedly with the final score, 57-21.
Reach Anthony McConnaughey at amcconnaughey@clintonnc.com or on Twitter @SportsSampson
