Eastern snaps losing skid

By Corey Stolzenbach, McAlester News-Capital

Eastern Oklahoma State College would not be denied for a 13th straight time.

The Lady Mountaineers (6-18, 1-9) picked up their first win since a 93-60 triumph against Oklahoma Wesleyan Nov. 30. This was also the team's first win in Division 1 play in Region II of the National Junior College Athletic Association this season with a Thursday home win over Western Oklahoma State College, 85-77. This was Eastern's first game in seven days as the team was on a bye earlier this week.

"Right now, they're extremely excited," said Eastern head coach Brandon Taylor, who returned from his two-game suspension. "We've talked about this all week is, 'We're getting a win. We're getting a win and it's going to start today, Thursday, Feb. 8. We're getting our win and we're turning a corner and going.'"

Eastern got its first lead with 5:06 to play in the first quarter when A'breon Jackson hit two free throws for a 6-4 advantage. Jackson ran into foul trouble, getting four of them, and sat out the second and third quarters before reappearing in the fourth. 

The Lady Pioneers crawled back into it, though, eventually tying the game at 31 in the second quarter. Cachet Johnson was fouled with 1:39 to play in the second half. She sank the first free throw and missed her second, but Kristian Davis got the offensive rebound and the put back to make it 34-31 Eastern. 

Davis later committed a foul with 1:01 to play in the half. Western got back within one when it went 2-of-2 at the free throw line, but got one more bucket and took a 36-33 lead into the locker room at the half.

The Lady Mountaineers went on a 10-0 run in the third quarter when Western cut it to a 40-37 Eastern lead. Destanee Morales had a few buckets to help tack on, and the Lady Mountaineers led, 56-45, after three, with Davis hitting both at the charity stripe.

It became a new game in the fourth quarter when the Lady Pioneers tied the game at 67. 

"We had some breakdowns in our defenses a little bit and so they were able to go run and get back in," Taylor said. "That's when we called a timeout and adjusted and fixed and talked about what we needed to fix in our defenses."

Eastern got the next bucket to pull ahead, 69-67, and had a 72-69 edge before Cachet Johnson converted a steal into a layup with 2:36 to go. Davis had an and-one and hit a free throw at the 2:12 mark to bring it to 77-69 in favor of Eastern. 

It was an 81-77 affair when Johnson knocked down a pair to extend Eastern's lead, and Johnson sealed it up when she swiped the ball and dished it to Davis, who had a team-high 23 points, for a layup and the final bucket of the game.

The Lady Mountaineers were without Macey McKee for the second straight game, as she has stepped away from the team. Taylor did not know the extent of it and McKee declined in a text message to explain her reasoning. Taylor did say that it was not a discipline issue and that it would be at her discretion to return to the team. 

Eastern will be going to Miami on Monday to face Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College. It's the first road game for the Lady Mountaineers since Jan. 22. NEO had a 84-40 win against them Jan. 11.

Taylor said Eastern is a completely different team compared to the last time, and that it would not be so easy for the opposition this time around.

"We've got that team mentality," he said. "Before, there was a bunch of individualism. Now, we're a team."