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Long-time rivals East Davidson and Ledford exchanged knockout blows for 32 minutes in a game that wasn’t decided until the final whistle. When the dust finally settled, East Davidson’s Lady Golden Eagles made just enough plays to score a dramatic 58-54 victory over the Lady Panthers, earning a trip to Friday’s finals against the Salisbury Lady Hornets.
“I’ve said all season long, Ledford is an outstanding team and they are,” said East coach Terry Allmon. “They’re good and they’re one of the best coached teams in the state. They played great and shot the ball extremely well.”
For Ledford (15-11, 8-5), it was a bitter defeat on a night the Lady Panthers played one of their best games of the season. LHS got just what it needed when EDHS’ Anna Freeman collected her fourth foul late in the third quarter of a two-point contest. Freeman’s foul on Megan Surles with 1:21 remaining in the third quarter and the two ensuing free throws knotted the game at 38 to bring the Lady Panthers all the way back from an eight-point halftime deficit.
This was not the first time this year the Lady Eagles (23-3, 12-1) have been without their leader, and the experience showed in the clutch. When it came time to make plays, East got big contributions from several players in a very tight fourth quarter. Alyssa Cutshaw stepped up first, drilling a 3-pointer from the top-of-the-key 90 seconds into the final frame, putting the Lady Eagles up five, 43-38. Dee Lanier followed 27 seconds later with a fast-break layup to regain that same advantage after the Lady Panthers’ Chelsea Freeman converted a six-foot baseline jumper.
“I knew we needed to make some shots,” Cutshaw said. “We know that we have to step it up whenever any of our players get in foul trouble. We have to step up and play big because we don’t have many big girls.”
Nicole Hughes knocked down a big three with under six minutes to go, making the score 45-43, but Ledford could never get closer than that down the stretch. East Davidson, with Anna Freeman back on the floor, showed poise at the charity stripe in the final two minutes, making 10 of 12, including four straight from Freeman.
“[The game] had a good flavor to it,” said Ledford coach John Ralls. “It was a well-played game. Things went our way a little bit with Anna getting in some foul trouble. They missed some shots that they’ve been making but we helped them a little on that.”
At the outset, the Golden Eagles looked as if their fourth win over their rival this season would come rather easily as EDHS jumped in front 21-11 early in the second quarter. The Lady Panthers did close the gap to six at one point, but the Lady Eagles scored six of the half’s final eight points to lead by eight at the break.
Following the intermission, the Freeman show started only it wasn’t Anna but Chelsea who took over the game. Ledford’s freshman guard had the breakout performance of her young career as Chelsea Freeman single handily brought the Lady Panthers back, scoring nine straight points in the third quarter. Elizabeth Merritt delivered a punishing blow to LHS’ psyche, however, when she followed up the second of her two misses at the free throw line and scored a tie-breaking bucket that sent East into the final quarter up two, 40-38.
“I got so pumped up and I was like nothing is going to stop me,” said Chelsea Freeman. “I was going to play my hardest and whatever happens, happens. We just needed that extra boost. We haven’t played this well in awhile.”
Anna Freeman led all scorers with 17 points, making eight of 10 the foul line. Haley Grimsley and Cutshaw tallied 10 and nine points, respectively. Chelsea Freeman paced the Lady Panthers with 15 points while Samantha Young and Nicole Hughes added 12 each.
Salisbury, a team that split its two regular-season games with East, defeated West Davidson 81-32 in the evening’s opener. The rubber-match tips off at 6 p.m. Friday at Lexington High School.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com