Lady Eagles advance to Area 18 championship game

In Saturday’s other two area semifinals at Lakewood, Hillcrest defeated Harrelson in the girls’ bracket and Hillcrest knocked off Henry in the boys’ tournament.

The tournament finals start at 6 tonight with Lakewood’s girls meeting the Hillcrest girls. At 7:15 p.m., Lake Road takes on Hillcrest in the boys’ title contest.

LADY EAGLES 37, LADY GENERALS 17

There weren’t many points scored in the first half. Lake Road got out in front 6-2 in the first period, but Lakewood recovered to post a 7-0 scoring run in the second period to grab a 9-6 halftime lead. Irelynn Beecham sank a 3-pointer in the second quarter for the Lady Eagles while Ali Taylor scored four points.

Taylor sank two 3-point shots and added another basket to score eight points in the third frame to help Lakewood go on a 16-7 scoring run that built the Lady Eagles’ lead to 25-13.

Lakewood closed out the win by outscoring Lake Road 12-4 in the fourth period to make the final score 37-17. Annie Grace Snow hit for six points for the Lady Eagles in the fourth quarter.

Taylor topped the Lady Eagles’ scoring list with 16 points and Snow added 12. Beecham hit for seven points while Ava Hastings scored two points.

Lake Road’s girls got 11 points from Harlee Johnson. Ainsley Sadler scored four points with Jayanne Hall chipping in two.

GENERALS 43, EAGLES 40

Every time it appeared the Lake Road Generals were gaining an edge, the Lakewood Eagles would close the gap to make it a close game right up to the final buzzer.

Both teams hit for 14 points in the first period, but Lake Road was able to go on a 13-4 scoring run in the second quarter to give the Generals a 27-18 halftime advantage. Lakewood’s Brady Almand sank two 3-pointers in the first period with James Wilson scoring four points in the second stanza.

The Eagles posted an 11-8 scoring edge in the third quarter to pull within a 35-29 margin. Michael Eichel scored six points for Lakewood in the third frame.

Lake Road got up by 10 points at one point in the fourth quarter, but Lakewood kept pulling closer. The Eagles got a free throw from Ryker Heaton with 1.8 seconds left to play and grabbed the rebound on a missed free throw, but couldn’t get off a 3-point attempt in time to tie the score at the final buzzer.

Lakewood’s top scorer in the game was Eichel with 12 points. Both Almond and Bryan Stephens chipped in eight points. Wilson finished with six points while Dylan Bevill scored five, including a 3-point basket. Heaton tossed in one point.

Lake Road’s Charlie Harper tossed in 17 points while Adrian Meadows added 11. Donnor Davis scored seven with Levi Spraggs scoring four. Both Clayton Caldwell and Weston Quinn put in two points each.