Lady Cavs survive behind Moore, Lawing, & McDowell

Published | Nov 22, 2023

Icard- It was the 115th girls basketball meeting between storied rivals East Burke and Freedom.

The Lady Cavaliers add a mark in the history books after holding on to a 61-54 win over the Lady Patriots.

This is the second straight year East Burke could dethrone Freedom on the Lady Cavs home court, recording a 19th consecutive home victory.

With junior Braelyn Stilwell leading the scoring efforts of 21 points, a pair of EB seniors Ally Moore and Kamiah Lawing and junior Journi McDowell served as the backbone to clinch this monumental win.

The Lady Cavaliers built strong leads of 20-9, 25-15, 41-28, and 50-34 until the visiting Lady Patriots started to battle back.

Six of the eight points Moore scored in the third quarter kept EB elevated, and a fourth-quarter basket by Lawing extended the lead to 52-43.

Freedom scored the next seven of nine points, getting the lead down to 54-50.

McDowell came in the picture for the Lady Cavaliers, scoring the next five of seven points as the lead could only get as low as a five-point difference.

The Lady Patriots’ fourth-quarter comeback attempt was led by Payton Caldwell, who scored 14 of her 27 total points.

“Freedom is a good team, and they found their weight. They will do great things this year,” said East Burke coach Crystal Bartlett.

Kara Brinkley added nine points for EB, with Moore, Lawing, and McDowell each scoring eight.

15 9 14 16

20 15 15 11

Braelyn Stilwell 21, Brinkley 9, Moore 8, McDowell 8, Lawing 8, Turner 5, Coble 2

BOYS: Freedom 60, East Burke 58

It came down to the final buzzer sounding.

The Cavaliers had the chance to give Freedom an 0-2 start to the season and earn their first win over the Patriots in 15 tries.

After a missed free-throw, Jacob Dellinger got the rebound and tossed a pass down court to Sylas Coleman, only to miss two attempts at a tying layup.

East Burke gained brief leads in the first quarter after a basket by Barger Shook and a free-throw pair by Gavon Franklin.

Coleman and Zack Crawford hit a three-pointer in the quarter, but the Patriots gained the lead at the end of the first quarter, 17-12.

The Patriots’ lead extended to 29-12 in the second quarter before East Burke scored 16 straight points, cutting the lead to just a one-point difference.

Freedom led 33-31 at the halftime break and built up a lead of 13 points in the third quarter.

Shook and Coleman teamed up to score all the Cavaliers 14 third-quarter points to trail 47-45 heading into the fourth quarter.

Scoring efforts by Shook, Coleman, and Crawford kept East Burke within distance of stealing the win away from Freedom, only to be denied when the final buzzer sounded.

Coleman finished with a new career high of 24 points, followed by Shook, who scored 20 points.

17 16 14 13

12 19 14 13

Sylas Coleman 24, Barger Shook 20, Crawford 8, Franklin 2, Dellinger 2, Hartmann 2