ECS girls win easily over FACS

Story from Commercial Appeal

The high-flying ECS girls kept counting wins after an easy 51-36 home win over FACS Thursday night.

After blowing an 18-3 lead in the first quarter, the ECS girls (14-1, 5-0), ranked third in this week’s AP state Division 2 poll, mixed and matched their lineups the rest of the night against cellar-dwelling FACS (3-9, 0-5).

“You came on the wrong night,” ECS coach Jeff Little said, referring to the usual fireworks display put on by sophomore Emily Lytle and her senior sister, Sara, who combine for more than 26 points a game. “We wanted to take care of the first quarter, then get everyone some minutes.”

At half the score was 34-18, thanks to seven points apiece by senior Avery Sippel, freshman Molly Martin and six from senior Kate Jamison. “The beauty of this team is we have a lot of players surrounding Emily and Sara who know their roles and play them perfectly,” Little said.

Emily finished with 10 points, seven under her average, while Sara was just off her season mark with eight. Didn’t matter. “Tonight was about getting everyone involved,” said Sara, who will follow sisters Leah and Bethany at Northwest Mississippi CC next season.

Sophomore Carmen Moore had 10 points while freshman Bionka Massie had nine and junior Miller Cole nine on three 3-pointers for the Crusaders.

“We’re young and we’ll get through,” FACS coach Melvin Wilkes said. “But that’s a talented team that knows the game, and knows what it has to do on every loose ball, and every play.”