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East Jessamine's Emma Young blew past her defender and drove toward the basket during the first quarter of Saturday's win over Taylor County (Photo by Jonathan Stark/jstark@jessaminejournal.com / January 19, 2013) |
East Jessamine picked up its 12th win of the year Tuesday night by defeating Thomas Nelson 56-45 and the Lady Jags won their 11th game on Saturday as the Lady Jaguars hosted Taylor County for the East Jessamine Coaches vs. Cancer showcase.
East was led by Emma Young, who scored a team-high 26 points.
The Lady Jags were in control most of the night, but Coleman thought her team could have played better against the two-win Lady Cardinals.
“I thought that was one of the worst games we’ve played all season,” she said. “We weren’t in the right frame of mind ... Offensively we kept making silly mistakes, and defensively we were in no-man’s-land. We weren’t in help, we weren’t pressuring the ball, and we kept getting burned.”
After taking an 11-4 lead in the first three and a half minutes of the game, East gave up back-to-back baskets, which pulled the Lady Cards within three points. Sophomore Sarah Rainwater gave the Lady Jags some breathing room by draining a three-pointer as time expired in the first period.
East Jessamine used the second quarter to extend its lead to as many as 13 points and went into the half with a 29-17 lead. Young led the way in the second with six points.
The tide began to turn a bit in the third quarter as Taylor County was able to close the gap to as few as eight points heading into the fourth quarter. East was held to just 10 points in the eight-minute frame.
The Lady Cards worked the lead down to 41-35 before East went on a 5-0 run to put the game away.
Taylor never got closer than five the rest of the night as East hit 9-of-14 free throws in the final minutes.
Rainwater also finished in double figures with 16 points.
East must win one of its final seven games to finish the regular season with a winning record — something the program has not done since 2001-2002 season.
