Stratford dominates Mount de Sales 63-35 to end Lady Cavs’ streak

You don’t see a team win 11 consecutive games very often.

It’s even less often you see another team dismantle a squad on such a winning streak.

The Stratford Eaglettes did just that Friday night against Mount de Sales, ending the Lady Cavaliers’ 11-game unbeaten run with a ringing 63-35 blowout that left the Mount de Sales crowd stunned and the Stratford home crowd smiling.

The blowout was not a slow affair. The Eaglettes stormed out of the gates to a 20-2 run with incredible shooting from Camiya Hudson and Shannon Smith and a press defense that left the Lady Cavaliers shell-shocked.

“We’ve been playing with a lot of energy, especially starting games and in the third quarter. We’re still making some mistakes and errors that we don’t need to be making, especially defensively,” Stratford head coach Ed Smith said. “We wanted to play with a little energy, build a lead early. Everything fell into place for us tonight here.”

Stratford improved to 15-3 and 4-0 in the region with the win. The loss dropped Mount de Sales to 13-2 and 3-1 in region play. The Lady Cavaliers had not lost since Nov. 25, a fact that Smith and the Eaglettes were certainly aware of.

“We heard some things coming in, this and that … I knew they hadn’t been in a game this big at Mount de Sales in quite a while, and I was hoping that was to our advantage. I think it was a little bit. I knew they’d be fired up, jacked up, ready to give us their best. We were a little calmer,” Smith said. “Playing at home helped us a lot, too.”

In addition to breaking up its rival’s winning streak, Stratford also took sole possession of first place with the victory. The Eaglettes are looking to repeat as region champions after winning the tournament last year and reaching the semifinals of the GIAA state tournament.

“If there’s gonna be a region championship won, we want it to come down Peake Road. That’s just our philosophy. Sometimes we’re good enough, sometimes we’re not,” Smith said. “We’re doing a good job right now of taking things one game at a time.”

The first quarter was too much to bounce back from for the Lady Cavaliers. Stratford led 27-6 after that opening period, which saw Shannon Smith hit three shots from beyond the arc and Hudson make superb layup after superb layup. Hudson even joined in with a 3-pointer of her own — she hit a few throughout the game and clearly enjoyed it.

“She showed tonight that you can’t sleep on her perimeter game, that’s for sure,” Smith said. “She’s our leading scorer for a reason.”

Hudson finished with a game-high 24 points. Just as lethal as the Eaglettes’ shooting ability was their press defense, which caused problems for Mount de Sales as Hudson scored off three straight turnovers near midcourt at one point.

“I thought we did just enough to where they didn’t shoot the ball well tonight. We just took ‘em a little bit out of their comfort zone in terms of rushing things a little bit,” Smith said. “They’re a lot better at shooting the ball than they showed tonight, so we get some credit.”

Stratford’s post play looked solid as well, with Katherine Causey pitching in 11 to follow Hudson as the Eaglettes’ second-leading scorer.

Aside from the first quarter, Mount de Sales appeared to move the ball well but could not capitalize. Kenzie Jordan led the Lady Cavaliers in scoring with 13, with long-range shooter Payton Latimer following with 12.

The Eaglettes are set to face Tattnall on the road Tuesday night in their next region game, while the Lady Cavaliers host John Milledge that night.