While it was all tied up 23-23 at halftime, the St. Stephens Indians were not quite the East Lincoln Mustangs's equal in the second half on Tuesday. St. Stephens received a tough blow as they fell 61-43 to East Lincoln. St. Stephens has not had much luck with East Lincoln recently, as the team's come up short the last six times they've met.
St. Stephens lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Molli Harris, who scored 13 points along with six rebounds and five assists. Harris hasn't dropped below two steals for three straight games. Kennedy Blevins was another key contributor, scoring 15 points.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead East Lincoln to victory, but perhaps none more so than Emma Montanari, who scored 22 points along with seven assists and five steals. That makes it five consecutive games in which Montanari has scored at least a third of East Lincoln's points. Another player making a difference was Kiara Anderson, who scored 22 points along with seven rebounds and five steals.
St. Stephens has been struggling recently, as they've lost four of their last five games, which put a noticeable dent in their 9-5 record this season. As for East Lincoln, the victory was the seventh in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 13-1.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. St. Stephens will take on Hickory at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in North Carolina (Hickory is ranked 142nd, while St. Stephens is ranked 161st). As for East Lincoln, they will look to defend their home court on Wednesday against West Iredell at 6:00 p.m. West Iredell is hoping to put an end to a six-game streak of away losses.
