NORTH MANCHESTER – Building an 18-point lead in the first half, the Manchester girls basketball team seemed to be cruising Thursday at home, but the Eastbrook Lady Panthers made things interesting. Getting the 59-54 victory, the Manchester Lady Squires (9-3) used a 12-0 run in the second quarter to build a 31-13 lead before Eastbrook freshman Sierra Singer hit a layup as time expired in the half. The layup must have gotten the Lady Panthers (4-8) going, as they netted the first seven points of the second half, outscoring Manchester 20-7 in the third and creeping within 38-35 going into the final quarter. "We just didn't come out to play, and obviously, they did," Manchester coach Mark Underwood said. "We tried to tell them in the locker room that this is a very capable team and not to feel comfortable," he added. "At the same time, there's two teams out there. I'm not sure it was as much us playing bad in that third quarter as it was them just getting on top of their game. We're going to have to guard against that." Manchester's biggest problem in the second half was slowing down Eastbrook junior Kerri Guffey and senior Lauren Heeter. Through the first 16 minutes, Guffey had two points and Heeter had four, but things changed in the second half, when Guffey scored 17 and Heeter netted 14. "I knew this was a good team," Underwood said. "We had scouted them and we knew Heeter was a good player. She had 18 on us last year and she had another 18 on us tonight. Goffey we knew was a good player because she had 14 on us last year and had 19 on us tonight. In the first half, we held those two down, but in the second half we did not." The combination helped to get the Lady Panthers to within 49-47 with three minutes remaining, but the Lady Squires found a way to hold off the surge. "The main thing was we got a little tight," Underwood said. "It seemed easy in the first half, then in the second half, they made a run. You have to give them a lot of credit. They came out and played really hard." Along with Guffey and Heeter heating up, the Lady Panthers also did a nice job of cooling down Manchester junior Kayla Flack, who had 18 points in the first half. Following halftime adjustments, the Eastbrook defense did a better job against her, limiting her to four points in the second half. "In their locker room, I'm sure they were talking about stopping her," Underwood said about Flack, who finished the game with 22 points, nine rebounds, three assists and a steal. "As a result, they came out and really focused on her defensively." Luckily for Manchester, eight girls got into the scoring column, as junior Bekah Brunn had eight points, while senior Malyssa Bedke and senior Hannah Little each had seven. Little also hauled in a game-high 15 points, helping the Lady Squires outrebound the Lady Panthers 45-26. The win was Manchester's second this week, but they're not finished yet, taking on North Miami Saturday in Three Rivers Conference action. North Miami enters the game at 2-11 and 0-3 in the TRC, but Underwood is careful not to take anyone lightly. "North Miami is a very dangerous team," Underwood said. "They gave a good Argos team a real fight (Wednesday night in a 55-39 loss). It's on their floor and that's never an easy place to play. We're going to have to really come ready to go."
MANCHESTER 59, EASTBROOK 54 E 9 6 20 19 — 54 M 14 17 7 21 — 59 Manchester — Malyssa Bedke 1-4 5-6 7, Meika Kennedy 0-3 3-4 3, Bekah Brunn 4-8 0-3 8, Kayla Flack 7-13 5-8 22, Hannah Little 3-9 1-2 7, Hanna Schmidt 1-7 3-6 5, Kaylee Watson 2-4 0-0 5, Lindsey Budnik 0-3 2-4 2, Autumn Brewer 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 18-54 19-33 59. Eastbrook — Kerri Guffey 4-17 9-10 19, Sierra Singer 1-5 2-6 4, Lauren Heeter 9-15 0-0 18, Megan Sizemore 1-2 0-0 2, Korisa Kitts 2-5 0-1 4, Bailey Mansberger 0-2 0-0 0, Halee Bischoff 1-1 1-1 3, Brooke Sell 2-4 0-1 4, Cassie Young 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 12-19 54. Three-point goals — Manchester 4-10 (Flack 3, Watson), Eastbrook 2-8 (Guffey 2); Team Fouls (fouled out) — Manchester 18 (Kennedy), Eastbrook 23; Turnovers — Manchester 22, Eastbrook 21; Rebounds — Manchester 45 (Little 15), Eastbrook 26 (Sell 8); Assists — Manchester 11 (Flack 3, Little 3), Eastbrook 7 (Singer 3); Steals — Manchester 14 (Kennedy 4), Eastbrook 8 (Sizemore 3); Blocks — Manchester 2, Eastbrook 5 (Guffey 3); Records: Manchester 9-3, Eastbrook 4-8. JV — Eastbrook 32, Manchester 25 Manchester JV — Mariah Mobley 6, Shelby Johnson 6, Kiana Gillum 4, Tabby DeWitt 4, Madison Isbell 2, Celina Carter 2, Sydney Snep 1.
