Madelyn Poe
Columbus East kept it close with Class 3A No. 5 Greensburg for the first quarter, but it didn’t take long to see why the Pirates were one of the top teams in their respective class.
Greensburg made a big run at the end of the second quarter and at the end of the third quarter to give the Olympians a 68-31 girls basketball loss at the Orange Pit Thursday night.
“We knew going into it they were a solid basketball team, and for us to compete, we had to play well. They had to play a little bit off, and they did at the beginning,” East coach Kaitlyn Phillips said. “It’s another story of ours is we’re not competing for 32 minutes, and those last two minutes in the second quarter really killed us. That was detrimental to us, but they definitely played the way they are capable of playing in the second half. Tonight, they were the better team hands down.”
East (4-11) committed several turnovers that kept points off the board. However, Greensburg (11-2) had trouble shooting in the opening quarter to make it only a 16-10 lead.
The Olympians picked up a quick spark in the second quarter when they went on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 18-16. With East only trailing 19-18 after a Caroline Frost basket inside, the Pirates got hot from the perimeter, particularly Carlee Adams. She hit three 3-pointers during a 13-0 run to end the first half and lead 32-18 at the break.
Greensburg led 37-25 midway through the third quarter until they went on a 19-0 run to end the quarter and lead the Olympians 56-25. The Pirates then scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to trigger a running clock the rest of the game.
“We knew that it was going to be a tough game for us tonight,” Phillips said. “We competed better than I thought we were going to in the beginning of the game, so I think that shows our team how we can play when we want to. It’s just a matter of finding that for a longer period of time.”
Madelyn Poe led East with 14 points. Adams led Greensburg with a game-high 21 points on seven made 3-point baskets.
