Pickin' Splinters

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Jackson and East outlast Brockport

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Semaj Jackson scored 10 of her team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter as East High girls’ basketball defeated host Brockport, 57-54 in non-league action, Friday night. (Photo: Paul Gotham)

By PAUL GOTHAM

BROCKPORT, N.Y. — Semaj Jackson scored 10 of her team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter as East High girls’ basketball defeated host Brockport, 57-54 in non-league action, Friday night.

Trailing by three with four minutes remaining, Jackson scored the next eight East points to give the Eagles a lead they did not surrender.

“That was big time,” East High head coach Moe Jones said of the sophomore forward. “She’s built for this. One of our leading scorers, one of our best players on the team. She wants to win. She works hard in practice and it paid off today.”

Jackson converted on four free throw attempts before finishing off a pass from teammate Darianna Weathers. Next trip down the floor, Gabby Brown-Sturdviant found Jackson unguarded in the lane for two more points.

East led 52-49 with less than two-and-a half minutes on the clock. The Eagles did not trail again.

“I just remembered that we are the No. 1 seed, and we have to stay as the one seed,” Jackson said of East’s spot at the top of Class A. “Coach told us what to do. We just had to go do it. We had to play hard, play smart.”

The win was the third straight for East (13-3) and seventh in the past eight. The victory came over a Brockport squad (10-7) which had won three of four including a 63-58 win over Eastridge, No. 3 in Class A.

“This was a dog fight,” Jones said. “Games like this are going to get us ready for sectionals.”

Brown-Sturdviant scored six as part of a 10-0 East run early in the second quarter to stake the Eagles to a 20-10 lead.

Brockport rallied.

Hannah Carpenter finished a reverse layup along the baseline and then found teammate Janelle Laureano ahead of the defense for two more. Lydia Childs grabbed a defensive rebound and went the length of the floor for a layup.

The Blue Devils had cut the deficit to four at 26-22 heading into halftime.

Carpenter and Stella Szabo hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 30 midway through the third quarter.

Childs, who led all scorers with 23 points, converted 1-of-2 from the free-throw line for a 36-35 Brockport lead with 1:31 to go in the third quarter. It was the first of six lead changes over the next five-plus minutes of game time.

“The lead got away from us, and we got gritty,” Jones said. “We dug deep and fought it out. We executed and worked as a team. We started to communicate and came together.”

Brown-Staurdviant accounted for 16 points. Weathers had six, and Nevaeh Grisham scored seven.

East hosts Bishop Kearney for a 6:30 p.m. tip-off on Monday.

Brockport travels for a 7:00 p.m. start at Churchville-Chili on Tuesday.

EAST HIGH (13-3)
Ali’Yana Robinson 2 0-0 4, Gabby Brown-Sturdviant 7 2-4 16, Nevaeh Grisham 2 1-2 7, Sinayah Abney 0 1-2 1, Semaj Jackson 7 5-8 20, Antwanette Coleman 0 0-0 0, Darianna Weathers 2 1-4 6, Layla German 1 1-4 3 TOTALS 21 11-24 — 57

BROCKPORT (10-7)
Janelle Laureano 1 3-4 5, Keira Wilson 1 1-2 3, Lydia Childs 8 7-9 23, Alexis Hassall 3 2-6 8, Hannah Carpenter 4 0-0 9, Ella Waite 0 0-0 0, Stella Szabo 1 3-4 6, Lilly Petitti 0 0-0 0 TOTALS 18 16-25 — 53

EAST HIGH 8 18 11 20 — 57
BROCKPORT 8 14 15 17 — 53

3-point goals: EAST HIGH 4 (Grisham 2, Jackson 1, Weathers 1); BROCKPORT 2 (Carpenter 1, Szabo 1).

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