The Eastside Lady Bulldogs advanced to the second round getting past the Centertown Lady Warriors on Thursday, but Friday night would be a slightly tougher opponent in the Irving College Tigers. It would come down to the wire with the Lady Tigers edging the Lady Bulldogs by a single point, 18-17.
The Lady Bulldogs controlled the entire first quarter catching the Lady Tigers cat napping. Eastside ran off a total of nine to get the edge on the Lady Tiger team, not to mention holding Irving College to just a single basket. With Irving College automatically in the second round, they had not gotten the chance to get the nerves out.
Whatever the Lady Bulldogs started with had disappeared in the second quarter. It was obvious the confidence that was with them was somehow lost. The Lady Bulldogs had trouble finding the openings that were right in front of them in the first. The Lady Tigers had adjusted and settled in to what was a shut-out quarter of play against Eastside.
Caylie Sherrell, Kenley Cathcart, and Jillian Franklin all scored in the second quarter for the Lady Tigers. Rylie Crawford and Kapri Talley had led scoring in the first quarter bringing us to the half with a score of 9-8.
Moving into the lead quickly after the second half began. It looked as if the Lady Bulldogs had found what they were looking for. As quickly as they had found momentum, it was gone again. Not finding the rim on shots and poor rebounding was apparent.
Frustration was starting to take its toll on the Lady Bulldogs when the Lady Tigers had taken the lead with 30 seconds left in the third. Shots were hard to come by as both teams struggled getting good looks at the basket.
It wasn’t until very late in the game when the Lady Tigers were able to score back-to-back they were able to take the lead. After several quick timeouts, Eastside had gotten the ball across midcourt with time remaining on the clock. Inbounding with only seconds to go, Eastside got the open look they had planned for, but the shot would not drop. The buzzer sounded as the Lady Bulldogs had gotten the rebound and the Lady Tigers walked away with a one-point victory.

Irving College scoring - Emily Fults 6, Caylee Sherrell 4, Kenley Cathcart 4, Jillian Frankman 4
Eastside scoring - Rylie Crawford 5, Grayson Hillis 3, Kapri Talley 3, Lexi Loader 2, Kyla Baker 2, Katie Bost 2