With time running out in the championship game of the Turkey Shootout on Monday evening at Broome High School, Chesnee senior Jessa Beach made a block of a driving Berea player to give the Eagles a 35-34 victory over the Bulldogs and the championship. It wasn't Beach's first block to win a championship this month as she also blocked a shot to win the volleyball state championship game just a few weeks ago.
"Jessa is the type of athlete that you want on the court at all times," said Chesnee head coach Carey Burns. "She brings a sort of calmness to the team when she's on the court and that block at the end of the game was a huge play for us." The championship game was very competitive from the start as Beach got the first points of the game as the two teams battled to a 9-9 score at the end of the first quarter. The Eagles were led in the quarter by senior Jamekia Evans who scored five of the team's nine first quarter points. In the second quarter the Eagles turned up the defensive pressure as they outscored the Bulldogs 12-1 in the quarter thanks to the strong defensive play of senior Kymiah Blair, who finished the game with eight steals to go along with eleven points and four rebounds. The play of Blair in the backcourt and Beach in the frontcourt helped give the Eagles a 21-10 halftime lead. "I really look for Kymiah and Jessa to be my two leaders on the court," said Burns. "I think the performance we saw from them especially on the defensive end was just the beginning and we're going to see a lot of improvement as the season goes along." Berea went on a 15-5 run of their own in the third quarter to pull the score to within one at 25-24 as the teams entered the final quarter of play. In the final quarter of play both teams battled hard for the championship and with the Eagles still leading by one and under thirty seconds left in the game Berea made a steal to go on a fast break but Blair was able to race back to make a steal for the Eagles. After making the steal Blair's foot landed out of bounds to give the Bulldogs back the ball which led to the block by Beach. As time expired the Bulldogs got up one final heave but it fell short giving Chesnee the win. Coach Burns was very happy about the opportunity for her team to play in the Turkey Shootout at Broome especially in a season with so much uncertainty. "I appreciate Broome High School giving us the opportunity to be a part of the Turkey Shootout and getting two solid games in this early," said Burns. "With this season you just never know when your last game is going to come so I really appreciate all they've done for us down here at Broome and the hospitality they've shown." Jamekia Evans and Kymiah Blair led the Eagles in points on Monday as both scored eleven points in the championship game. Jessa Beach finished the game with five points to go along with fourteen rebounds and three blocked shots. The Eagles will now wait until after the Thanksgiving holidays to return to the court as their next game will be a home game against Broome on December 1st. Comments are closed.
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