CHARLOTTESVILLE — Under Shari Doud’s watch at Eastern Hancock the past few years, the Royals have never lost to rival Knightstown.
The trend didn’t end on Friday night. The Royals jumped out to a 25-12 halftime lead and stayed up front the entire game to win 50-27.
The win extended the Royals’ winning streak to five straight over the Panthers (2-10) and marked Doud’s fourth victory since 2016 against the neighboring foe.
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“Coaching goals,” Doud said. “It’s funny because my first year here to me it was just a game, but then I learned real quickly, there’s a couple of things that can cause you to lose your job, and one of them is losing to Knightstown.”
Doud’s job security was locked down after a 15-4 first quarter and three players with nearly double-digits. Aly Spaulding led the Royals (9-3) with 11 points, two steals and two assists.
Jocelyn Duncan finished with nine points, while Chloe O’Neal added nine. Skyla Smith had a team-high seven rebounds to secure Eastern Hancock’s second consecutive victory and fifth in the past six games.
“You go on 7-0 run here and a 6-0 run there, even when you have a dry spell, teams win in spurts of play, thank God we had a few of those spurts,” Doud said. “We started out playing our normal half-court game, and we realized they were on their heels a little bit, so we wanted to switch to a more full-court game to get our blood flowing a little bit.”
The Royals established a 20-point lead in the third quarter off a Delaney Collins bucket inside and pulled ahead 42-21 off a pair of Duncan free throws with 7 minutes, 27 seconds left in the game.
“It’s pretty important to set the tone early in the game,” Duncan said. “That’s what we focus on every game is setting the tone and showing what we came to do. We share the ball and we make sure to get those looks.”
A five-point swing by Grace Stapleton in less than 10 seconds late in the fourth quarter nailed down the win as she scored on a 3-pointer and a steal for an easy layup.
The only threat against the Royals was Knightstown’s Katie Clark, who buried five 3-pointers to post a game-high 18 points.
“Clark had an exceptional night. But Aly pressured her and had a hand in her face a lot. The girl, it was just her night,” Doud said. “Grace had a nice run there in the fourth quarter that kind of sealed the deal with a 3, a steal and a bucket. It sparked us in the end.”
The Royals get a week off before facing Monroe Central in a Mid-Eastern Conference matchup on the road. Eastern Hancock is 4-1 in MEC games this season.
“We have a break here and then we come back and play Monroe Central (1-1 MEC), who is very good in our conference,” Doud said. “It’s a winnable game for us, but we need to have a good plan in place and have to look a little bit sharper than we did against them tonight.”
