ELIZABETHTOWN — Emily Scott and Yolanda Coston sank free throws in the final 2 minutes Wednesday to help seal a 38-34 win for East Bladen over visiting Fairmont in a non-conference game.

The win evened the Lady Eagles’ record at 1-1 and dropped the Lady Golden Tornadoes to 0-1.

Scott was busy on the boards in the first quarter, grabbing seven rebounds to keep East Bladen close. She also canned a pair of free throws and a layup, but the visitors broke a 5-5 knot with a late bucket and took a 7-5 edge into the second stanza.

The Lady Eagles went on a 7-4 spurt to open the quarter, fueled by a three-pointer from Shardajah Brown, and took a 12-11 lead. An old-fashioned three-point play from Ja’Tyra Moore Peterson moments later gave East Bladen a 17-15 advantage.

Fairmont tied the game at 17-17, but the Lady Eagles got a three-pointer from Moore-Peterson to take a 21-17 lead into intermission.

East Bladen upped the lead to 23-17 to open the second half, but the Lady Golden Tornadoes went on a 7-0 run to edge in front, 24-23. Fairmont imploded when Moore-Peterson tried to launch a three-pointer — fouling the shooter and getting a technical foul on top of it — and Moore-Peterson sank four of the five free throws to give the Lady Eagles a 27-24 lead.

The home team would never trail again.

A bucket and free throw by Brown gave East Bladen a 30-24 lead as the third quarter ended.

In the final 8 minutes, Brown buried a three-pointer and the Lady Eagles went into a stall. Fairmont managed to cut the deficit to 33-30, but the free throws by Scott and Coston sealed the game.

The girls played hard and are hopefully learning from experience,” East Bladen coach Patty Evers said. “Emily (Scott) and Ashley (Hardin) had a great defensive game in the post and Shardajah (Brown) stepped up and hit some key shots to help pull out the win.”

Brown and Moore-Peterson shared top honors for the Lady Eagles with 13 points each, while Scott scored eight and pulled down 12 rebounds. Hardin finished the game with nine rebounds.

East Bladen was scheduled to host St. Pauls on Monday at 6 p.m., then host East Columbus on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a rematch of the Nov. 22 loss to the Lady Gators.

W. Curt Vincent can be reached by calling 910-862-4163.

W. Curt Vincent

cvincent@civitasmedia.com