Almost.
Despite an abysmal shooting effort in the paint, 11 turnovers in the fourth quarter and 22 total, a sub-par free-throw outing and a horrible start to the second half, East Union managed to stay in the game with visiting Sonora and a suffocating Wildcats defense until the end but lost 50-49 in non-league girls basketball action Tuesday at Dalben Center.
“We didn’t do well in all phases, that’s for sure,” Lancers coach Jim Agostini said. “I thought Sonora played well, hustled and beat us up and down the floor. Their defense in the backcourt was phenomenal but in the frontcourt we just had too many misses. We shot horrible from point-blank range.”
East Union (6-1) took advantage of Sonora foul trouble to close the first half on a 14-2 run to take a 25-17 lead. Ruby Daube (nine rebounds, three steals) had 10 of her game-high 19 points in that Lancers spurt.
That big East Union lead did not last long. Sonora (6-1) shot out of the gate in the second half on a 6-0 run, eventually tying the game late in the third period but a 6-2 run by the Lancers to close out the quarter gave them a 37-33 lead heading into the final period.
“We had some starters in foul trouble in the first half and I thought our bench stepped up and did a good job,” Wildcats coach Amy Emerald said. “But I was really impressed with how we responded in the second half overall. It was a good second half for us.”
Another big run started the fourth quarter for the Wildcats who went 7-2 and took a 40-39 lead with 5:35 left in the game. A put-back by DeJohna Pryor (10 points, eight rebounds) temporarily gave the Lancers the lead, but a field goal by Makenna Poole (11 points) gave Sonora the lead for good with 4:14 showing on the clock.
East Union came back within 48-46 with 52 seconds remaining on a short bank shot by Pryor, but by the time Daube sank her last of four 3-pointers to come within a point, only 0.3 seconds showed on the clock.
“We didn’t play well,” Agostini said. “We didn’t take care of the basketball and when you turn the ball over 11 times in the fourth quarter you will lose the majority of those basketball games.
“There are all kinds of categories that you can point out about tonight, so this is a good one to go back and look and see what all went wrong.”
Donja Payne had a double-double for the Lancers, scoring 11 points and grabbing 15 rebounds along with three blocks. Carley Capello led the Wildcats with 15 points.
 
Sophomore
East Union 50, Sonora 45
Nina Murphy scored the last five points of the game for the Lancers to give East Union the win.
Murphy led the Lancers with 24 points.
 
Freshman
Sonora 53, East Union 13
Jennifer Garcia paced the Lancers with six points.