Bulldogs split at Morrison

The Eastside Bulldogs put a damper on Morrison?s ?Eighth-grade Night? festivities Thursday, jumping out to an early lead and handing the Eagles an eventual 42-22 loss.

The Bulldogs opened the contest ? the Eagles? final home game of the season ? with five unanswered points, with Brady Powers getting things started with a 3-pointer 34 seconds into the game. Hunter Dye answered with back-to-back baskets for Morrison, but those would prove to be the only points the Eagles would score for nearly eight minutes, as Eastside went on a 19-0 run.

The Bulldogs led 11-4 after a quarter, and didn?t allow a basket for the first 4:55 of the second quarter on their way to a 26-6 halftime lead from which the Eagles would never recover.

Adam Hollandsworth, who led the way for Eastside with a game-high 14, scored four unanswered points on his own in the third, helping the Bulldogs build a lead which grew to as many as 25 points. And with a 33-10 lead after three quarters, the Bulldogs coasted to the win, with Caleb Northcutt ? who chipped in a dozen Bulldog points ? capping the win with a three-point play.

Gavin Lewis added nine points to the winning tally, while Dye led Morrison with 12 and Cody Baker chipped in four.

Morrison?s seventh- and eighth-grade girls played host to a short-handed Eastside squad Thursday night, and rolled to a 38-20 victory in their home finale.

Taylor Grissom led the way for the Lady Eagles with a dozen points, including her team?s first six as they built a 6-1 lead on the way to a 10-4 advantage by the first quarter?s end. Eastside, which dressed just six players for the game, hit just one of 13 shots from the field in the opening quarter, with Sera Reyes accounting for all four of her team?s points.

The Lady Bulldogs hit just two of 13 attempts in the second, but Morrison didn?t fare much better, connecting on three of their 12 shots to carry a 17-8 lead into halftime.

Three unanswered points from Sarah Collins ? who finished with seven ? allowed Eastside to pull back within single digits at 17-11 early in the third, but the Lady Eagles responded with a 6-0 run of their own, and went up by a dozen points (26-14) by the end of the period. Eastside pulled within 10 midway through the fourth, but the home squad closed the game with an 8-0 run to nail down the victory.

Shelbi Eldridge helped the Morrison effort with five points, while Hanna Nunley had four.