A slow start against a determined (6-16) Eastern Meigs Lady Eagles basketball team led to some tense moments for the Adena Lady Warriors for almost three quarters of basketball before Adena could pull away late for a 47-39 Division 3 Sectional Semifinal win, Saturday.
(16-3) Adena trailed throughout most of the first three periods, rallying from a 13 point deficit in the first half and taking their first lead at 31-29 with 1:31 remaining in the third quarter.
The Lady Eagles got out to leads of 7-2 and 10-4 to start, 13-4 after one quarter and their biggest lead of 17-4, before the Lady Warriors closed the first half on a 11-2 run to pull to within 19-15 at halftime.
Andrew Day's club tightened the defensive screws from the second quarter on which helped lead the comeback effort.
Freshman Kierra Williams came off the bench to score a game-high 22 points and sophomore Caelan Miner provided some defensive spark with great hustle to also play a role in turning the tide of the game.
Along with Williams offensive effort, Emma Garrison added 9 points, Makaela Lovely, Jadyn Smith and Cheyanne Ater each scored 4 points, with 2 points each from Sydney Foglesong and Caelan Miner. Foglesong and Smith led the team in rebounding with 6 each.
Eastern Meigs was led by Sydney Reynolds' 12 points and 10 rebounds with Erica Durst adding 10 and Jennifer Parker's 9 and Juli Durst with 6.
Adena shot a chilly 29% from the field in the first half, but ended the game at 18/50 for 36%- including 3/17 from the arc and added 9/13 at the foul line. The Lady Eagles were 18/42 from the field and 43%- including 1/8 from the arc and 2/8 from the file line.
Both teams had 26 rebounds, but the Lady Warriors turned Eastern over 16 times, compared to 8 of their own.
Adena will host the Northwest Lady Mohawks Wednesday in the sectional championship after Northwest advanced with a 42-27 win over Minford. 94 Country WKKJ airtime will be 6:45pm from Adena High School.
In other Division 3 action among SVC girls tournament teams Saturday, Westfall beat Nelsonville York 48-37, Southeastern fell to Portsmouth West 48-37, Federal Hocking over Piketon 70-52, Alexander 57-18 over Zane Trace and Oak Hill downed Huntington 52-33.