By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

Hitting the road for Southern Hills Athletic Conference action, the West Union Lady Dragons traveled to Eastern Brown on January 29, looking to pull off an upset of the Lady Warriors and severely damage the home team’s conference winning aspirations.

As it turned out, the Lady Dragons put up a fight but had no answer for Eastern freshman Bently Burns, who dominated the paint for season highs of 16 points and 13 rebounds, the double double effort leading the Lady Warriors to the eventual 48-36 victory.

The first quarter of action was not exactly an offensive clinic as no one even scored until over five minutes into the game and the quarter ended with Eastern on top 6-4.

Behind the strong efforts of the Uhl sisters, Olivia and Sophia, the Lady Warriors built a 15-6 lead with two minutes left in the first half but West Union closed the half on a 7-0 run, getting a basket from Maddie Stout, a three-pointer from Kaydence Cook and a transition score from Annabelle Mcintosh in the final seconds to slice the Eastern lead down to two at the half.

As the third period began, the Lady Warriors pulled away with a quick 8-2 spurt to go up 23-15. A three-ball from the Lady Dragons’ Madison White cut the margin but a basket and later free throw from Burns put the Lady Warriors in front 31-20 after three.

Just when you left the Lady Dragons for dead, they resurrected and began the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run, getting back to back three-pointers from McIntosh and Violet Randolph. The Lady Warriors weathered that blow and answered with nine straight to push their lead to 40-29. The home team continued to build on that advantage and closed out the 12-point win with a pair of Olivia Uhl free throws.

The Lady Warriors were led by the Burns double-double, joined in double figures by Olivia Uhl with 13 points. West Union was led by 12 points from Annabelle McIntosh, 9 from Violet Randolph and 6 from Maddie Stout, who also hauled in 10 rebounds.

Box Score

West Union

4 9 7 16 —36

Eastern Brown

6 9 16 17 —48

W. Union (36): Cook 1 1-2 4, McIntosh 3 4-6 12, Randolph 4 0-0 9, Stout 2 2-2 6, White 2 0-0 5, Team 12 7-10 36.

E. Brown (48): Fisher 0 0-2 0, Johnston 3 3-4 11, O. Uhl 4 4-6 13, S. Uhl 4 2-2 10, Burns 7 2-4 16, Team 18 11-18 48.

Three-Point Goals:

W. Union (5)- Cook 1, McIntosh 2, Randolph 1, White 1

E. Brown (1)- O. Uhl 1