Over recent years, the Seneca Lady Indians and the East Newton Lady Patriots basketball teams have met each other six times.
Twice during that span, the teams have met in a championship game and this time around Seneca still came out on top.
Last year, the two met in the finals of the district championship and the Lady Indians prevailed.
Playing in the championship game of the McAuley Lady Warrior Classic, the top-seeded Lady Indians won 68-49 Saturday.
Earlier this season, last month in fact, the two met and Seneca won 55-44 in a Big 8 Conference game.
Seneca (14-6) came out with a quick, fast-attack defense and that was essentially the difference in the game. In a few bats of an eyelash it seemed, Seneca went from leading 6-4 in the first quarter to taking a 27-8 lead in the second quarter.
And, mostly all of that came on turnovers and transition buckets.
Taylor McDaniel was the benefactor of most of the fastbreak scoring opportunities, but she also knocked down four 3-pointers in the game.
Seneca pulled ahead 23-6 after the first quarter and at halftime staked out a 38-20 lead over the Lady Patriots.
“The defensive pressure to start the game set the tempo,” Seneca coach Bob Coffey said.
Said East Newton coach Rusty McDermott, “They came out ready to play and we got back on our heels.”
East Newton (10-9) handled the Seneca pressure better in the third quarter and went on a little run, pulling with 12 points, 42-30. The 10-2 run was sparked by Katy Cooper and Raeshele Dollar, who both had two buckets each for the Lady Patriots.
Seneca (14-6) answered with a run of its own, 6-0, to extend the lead back out to 18 points.
McDaniel scored a career-high 25 points in the win for Seneca. Jacci Yust and Erin Esposito both had 13 points.
Cooper’s 21 points paced the scoring for East Newton.
Seneca plays Tuesday at Carthage, while East Newton is back in action Monday, playing at McDonald County. Both games will 6 p.m. tipoffs.
