Abigail Netherton Drops 27 As Van Buren County Takes Down Meigs County, 69-48

By Michael Lindsay

The Van Buren Eaglettes (14-3) won their fourth consecutive game Monday evening as they ran away with a 69-48 victory over Meigs County in non-district action.

“I thought that we played well,” said Van Buren County girls coach Tyler Sapp. “Meigs County is really good basketball team; they were in the substate game last year in 2A. I’m happy with how well we played tonight and how well we’ve been playing the last 3 games. I feel like we’re playing the best basketball we played all year for sure.

Abigail Netherton led the Eaglettes with 27 points  followed by 12 points and 8 rebounds from Cara Mills and 10 points by Ellie Grissom.

“She made a lot of tough shots in the lane,” said Sapp. She really controlled the offense for us tonight. We’ve got several others that can put the ball in the basket, too. We’ve had a different kid almost every night other than her and Cara score and double figures.”

Van Buren County jumped out to a 21-13 lead after one quarter and extended their advantage to double digits (23-13) via an Alyssa Parsley putback with 7:39 remaining in the second quarter.

An Emma Gammon three-pointer with 2:07 left in the second quarter gave the Eaglettes their largest lead of the first half at 40-20.

Van Buren County’s lead grew to as many as 26 points (53-27) in the third quarter as the Eaglettes went on to win by a 69-48 final score.

“I think it starts on the defense side of the ball,” said Sapp. “When we when we can create chaos defensively, get some and get numbers in transition and get some easy looks, were that much tougher to beat. We’ve scored 317 points, in our last 4 games and that’s huge for us.”

In boys action, the Eagles (8-8) fell to Meigs County 51-42. Van Buren County opened the contest on an 11-0 run and led 15-5 after one period. Meigs County clawed back to cut their deficit to 6 points at halftime at 27-21.

The Tigers tied the contest at 33 points each late in the fourth quarter before Meigs County took their first lead early in the fourth quarter at 35-33 and held on to win by a 51-42 margin.

Van Buren County is back in action on Tuesday as they host Grundy County before returning to District 6-1A play on Friday at Sale Creek.