By Daniel Green

BWS Sports

PICKERING — On the 130th anniversary of the invention of basketball, East Beauregard’s Sophia Burchard and Pickering’s Alexus Hood celebrated by scoring at will.

But in the end, it was Burchard and her East Beauregard Lady Trojans to hold on for the victory.

Burchard poured in a career-high 40 points as she dominated in the paint for East Beauregard in its 69-52 win over the Lady Red Devils in non-district action.

East Beauregard improved to 3-8 overall, thanks to having two other players, Darian Rutherford and Camryn Reeves, join Burchard in double figures.

Burchard was simply dominant in the paint as the Lady Red Devils were without their primary post defender, Lauren Mayberry, who was out nursing an injury. That lack of a presence in the middle allowed East Beauregard to set the tone early, laking an 18-7 lead after the opening period as Burchard netted 10 points in the frame.

Hood, who also posted a career high with 33 points in the loss, kept Pickering within striking distance as the Lady Red Devils managed to cut into the lead about midway through the second period.. But East Beauregard, which got 12 more points from Burchard, moved back out to a double-digit lead at the break, 33-20.

Burchard and Hood kept piling up the points in the third quarter as East Beauregard just couldn’t seem to shake the pesky Lady Red Devils. However, thanks to another 12 points from Burchard, the Lady Trojans increased their lead to 50-34 heading into the final quarter of play.

Hood seemed to be the only consistent offensive threat for the Lady Red Devils in the fourth quarter as he scored the majority of Pickering’s points in the frame. But they couldn’t dig their way out of the early hole as East Beauregard came away victorious.

Burchard also recorded 14 rebounds in the win for the Lady Trojans, while Rutherford and Reeves finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Ariana Yates joined Hood in double figures for Pickering with 10 points.