February 25, 2017
Eastern Tops Oak Hill for School's First State Championship
Eastern (Pekin) survived an early second half spurt by Oak Hill and the Musketeers held on to knock off the No. 5 Golden Eagles 42-31 to win the Class 2A girls state title.
Eastern's Rachel Stewart made a lay-up late in the second half to put the Musketeers ahead 22-11 before Oak Hill's Jenessa Hasty hit a 3-pointer and Eastern led 22-14 at halftime.
The Golden Eagles opened the second half scoring eight straight points to tie the game at 22, but never found a way to take the lead, and the Musketeers used an 8-2 run in the fourth quarter to stay ahead.
Eastern won its first state championship in the school's history and appeared in the girls state finals for the first time after winning the program's first regional and semi-state titles. The Musketeers finished the year 23-7 in Michael McBride's 10th season as head coach.
Steward scored 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting to lead the Musketeers while Taylor Drury and Isabell Claywell each finished with nine points and six rebounds.
Oak Hill shot just 29.4 percent from the field on 10-of-34 shooting, uncharacteristically low for a team that entered the state finals making 45.2 percent of its shots.
The Golden Eagles finished the season 27-2 under head coach Todd Law. Oak Hill made it to the finals for the first time since finishing runner-up in back-to-back seasons in 2008 and 2009.
Hasty had 13 points and five rebounds, Taylor Westgate finished with six points and eight rebounds while Kaela Robey had six points and seven rebounds.
Class 2A State Championship Records
Fewest Points Allowed: (Tied) 31 by Eastern (Pekin) vs. Oak Hill, 2017.
Eastern’s Taylor Drury named Mental Attitude Award winner
Following the game, members of the IHSAA Executive Committee named Taylor Drury of Eastern High School as the winner of the Patricia L. Roy Mental Attitude Award in Class 2A Girls Basketball.
The award is presented annually to a senior participant in each classification who was nominated by her principal and coach and has demonstrated excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability.
Academically, she ranks 17th in her senior class, has served three years on the Student Council including President, two years with the National Honor Society including Treasurer, and is a four-year member of the school pep club.
Besides basketball, where she’s been an All-Mid-Southern Conference player the last two years and the player of the year in 2016, she has also played three years of golf and two years of softball for the Musketeers.
She is the daughter of Wes and Holly Drury of Borden and will attend the University of Indianapolis while playing basketball for the Greyhounds. She becomes the first Eastern High School student-athlete to receive an IHSAA mental attitude award in any sport.
The Indiana Fever and Indiana Pacers, the presenting sponsor of the IHSAA Girls Basketball State Tournament, presented a $1,000 scholarship to Eastern High School in the name of Taylor Drury. Since 1989, more than $840,000 in college scholarships have been presented to deserving high school athletes in Indiana.
The award is named in honor of the former IHSAA assistant commissioner Patricia L. Roy, who oversaw the girls basketball state tournament from its inception in 1976 until her retirement in 1999.