Clash of the Titanesses: Ellington gets past East Carter in battle of two of area’s top girls basketballers

By ALAN DALE

Sports Editor

ELLSINORE — Maybe those extra two games made a bigger difference after Christmas?

The Ellington Lady Whippets may have been defeated by Neelyville and East Poinsette County between Christmas and New Year’s, but that might have paid dividends with their area rivals, East Carter.

Ellington (5-5) got 39 points from Kaylee King in a myriad of ways, while Ella Morton added 11 points and the Lady Whippets rode the crest of a big second-quarter push that became a larger wave after halftime and held off East Carter for a 68-61 win.

East Carter (8-2) got contributions from Brooklyn Kearbey (16 points), Parker Golden (14), Breanna Dohleman and Honna Brown (nine apiece).

“We didn’t play as hard as we have been and we were relaxed — maybe the time off …,” East Carter head coach Angela Rodgers said. “They saw an opportunity and they took it and we did not. We were not on the same page.”

Rodgers admitted a lot of losses on 50-50 balls, some errant turnovers, and missing a large number of shots at the rim — something Ellington did the opposite of — played a role in the defeat regardless of King’s numbers.

“We allowed too many easy shots for them when we didn’t have weakside help,” Rodgers said. “We need to play up our defense. We are not consistent with everyone at the same time. We need to be more disciplined.”

Ellington led by 10 points with a quarter to go and things seemed to be heading that way four minutes in when the Lady Redbirds made a big run to pull within 60-56 just south of the three-minute mark on a Golden runner and bank.

But a King and-one put the game out of reach and East Carter couldn’t make another push to get over the top.

East Carter led 14-10 after the first quarter as Kearbey got the early edge over King with each scoring eight points while the Lady Redbirds took a handful fewer shots.

The lead could have been better for the host, but a number of missed chippies and some fumbles of a handful of passes, partially caused by the scrap and toughness of the Ellington girls.

The second quarter saw the teams go on some individual runs of play and Ellington got the better of it after benefiting from an odd five-point play on a King triple to lead 33-29.

King finished the first half with 20 points but had to work hard for the account.

East Carter pushed back in front to start the second half behind a higher percentage shot selection and tried to overcome King’s shooting display even if it came in spurts.

Another blast of King points pushed the Lady Whippets back up 47-42 and the senior stalwart dominated the ball for Ellington.

Senior Ella Morton then buried a triple of her own and Ellington led 50-42 with 2:21 to go.

The Lady Whippets led 56-46 heading to the fourth quarter.

“We got a lot of size and with height, something comes being a bit slower,” Golden said. “We hadn’t played anyone who plays as hard as Ellington — they played hard the whole game. We weren’t quick enough and our defense wasn’t as good as we could have been.

“I don’t like making excuses, we just don’t play well coming off of a break. We like to keep things at a fast pace and go-go-go. Free throws and rebounds are key things and they embarrassed us tonight on the boards.”

East Carter boys rally, earn split on the night

The Ellington boys got hot early, and used a big second quarter to run out to a 40-30 halftime lead, but saw their Redbird hosts creep back in and ultimately pull away for a 73-60 win.

Micah Thompson led East Carter with 20 points while Robert Henning and Bryce Stahl each scored 12 apiece.

Leading Ellington were Colby Hedrick (24 points) and Brock Morey (10).

“We didn’t guard in the first half — giving up 40 points,” East Carter head coach Jordan Penn said. “Ellington was hot and that didn’t help us at all. Coming in at halftime we knew we weren’t out of it. We regrouped and said let’s respond.

“We changed how we played on offense and started attacking the rim and making their shots even harder.”

East Carter saw the Whippets break out to a 31-17 edge late in the second quarter as Ellington (3-8) was spurred on by three consecutive triples hit from the left corner by Conor Miller.

East Carter (5-4) chipped the deficit to seven and settled for the double-figure deficit before making its big run in the third quarter to take its first lead since the early stages, 50-49.

The teams went into the fourth quarter deadlocked at 52-apiece.

The Redbirds started the last period with a nice cushion, outscoring Ellington 8-3 out of the gate to go up five.

The Redbirds pumped their edge to nine before Ellington scored to pull to within 66-60 and then East Carter took control from there in their first games out in about two weeks.

“We also hadn’t had many good practices either over Christmas break,” Penn said. “We were rusty and rushed some shots early and were a little anxious. We didn’t do what we needed to do.”