East girls rally to win over O’Fallon

The Belleville East girls basketball team rallied for nine straight points late in the fourth quarter to erase a five-point defecit and defeat O'Fallon, ##-##.

Belleville East trailed by five at halftime and fell behind twice by five in the second half.

"We tend to really struggle when we get down like that so it was good to see the girls fight back," said East head coach Amanda Kemezys. "We got stops when we needed them, made big rebounds and hit our free throws down the stretch, which is something we sometimes have trouble with. It was a good win."

O'Fallon fell to 5-4, while East improved to 7-4.

With the apparent parody in the Southwestern Conference, Kemezys said every league win is a big one.

"You wonder how many losses the conference champion is going to have," she said. "It's crazy and shows how sharp you have to be every night. I've told the girls to embrace that challenge and keep that edge."

Key Moments

The Lancers dominated the third quarter, outscoring O'Fallon 12-3. Morgan St. James scored twice inside the paint to cap an 8-0 run.

O'Fallon came back with an 11-2 run to open the fourth. Sophomore Jayla Stubblefield scored on a pair of 3-pointers to key the run, which Celeste Akoro capped on a short jumper that put the Panthers in the lead 34-29.

The O'Fallon offense went dark, allowing East to score the next nine and take the last lead it would need.

"If you look at the stats, you wonder how the game was as close as it was," said O'Fallon coach Ryan Massey. "We had 18 turnovers in the game and 17 rebounds. We rushed ourselves a little, I think, plus they are a good team."

Key Performers

East didn't get a single player into double figures, but eight contributed points. Kayla Rainey led the way with nine points. St. James, Tamar Mosby, and Myriah Haywood each scored seven.

Akoro led the Panthers with a game-high 13. Marta Durk added eight.

What's Next

Both teams open play at the Mascoutah Holiday Tournament Dec. 28. O'Fallon faces Nashville at 10 a.m. and East will play Mater Dei at 11:30 a.m.

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 7:57 PM with the headline "East girls rally to win over O’Fallon."