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Morristown East notched probably the biggest win for first-year coach Justin Combs as they slipped past cross-town rival Morristown West, 61-59 at a packed Isenburg-Siler Gym Friday night.

The Lady Hurricanes came from behind in the final three minutes for their eighth win against eight losses. West slipped to 10-6 for the season. Both teams are now 1-1 in District Two 4A action.

In a series that has been dominated by the Lady Trojans in recent years, it is just the second win for East in the last 26 meetings.

However, it could be a very costly victory as sophomore point guard Harmony Sullivan went down with an apparent serious knee injury in the closing seconds. The full extent of the injury won’t be known until later.

Hailey Hall poured in 24 points for the Lady Hurricanes and made five three-pointers in the leading the way.

Finley Surber chipped in 11 and Hudson Cloninger added nine on three triples. Ella Wampler contributed seven and Sullivan five.

Delaney Weddington topped the Lady Trojans’ scoring with 20 while Mia Dinkins added 14 with all of them coming in the second half.

A basket by Weddington put West in front 56-52 with 3:52 left in the game. Neither team scored again until Sullivan knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the circle with 2:41 to play.

The Lady ‘Canes got the ball back and Hall buried a three from the left corner to give East a 58-56 margin. The ball changed hands a couple of times before East got possession and started running the clock. Hall was fouled with 46.1 to play and made both free throws to give East a four-point cushion.

Weddington popped in a three to chop the margin to one with 26 seconds remaining and West took a time out.

The East inbounds pass came to Sullivan and she went to the floor as she dribbled up the court in front of the West bench with the ball going out of bounds. All the East fans were screaming for a foul but it was a no call and the ball went to West.

After another time out, West got the ball in and missed a short shot that went out of bounds with possession going to the Lady Canes. After still another time out, East got the ball in to Wampler who gave it to Hall. She was fouled with 2.5 seconds on the clock.

Hall hit the first free throw to make it 61-59 and missed the second and all the Lady Trojans could do was launch a desperation shot that went over the backboard.

Combs commented, “That was a really big victory for us. I don’t know for sure about Harmony but it doesn’t look good.

“I was pleased with our effort,” he said. “We talked all week that we had to be better defensively and do a lot better on the boards than we did Tuesday night. I thought tonight was definitely a good bounceback and a good showing.

“It was a situation with a lot of pressure,” he added. “There’s so much that comes along with the city championship the big crowd, the screaming students, the band, all kinds of stuff. But I thought our kids responded well. The atmosphere was really great.”

Combs continued, “We weren’t clean in our execution in any way but we always found a way to respond to adversity. Hailey Hall did a great job for us. She hit big shots and free throws. She had been shooting it well for us and did again but the thing that pleased me the most about her was she did it on both ends of the court tonight.

“I thought everybody contributed,” he said. “Harmony didn’t score a lot but she did so many things that didn’t show up in the scorebook. I was proud of everybody and it was just an all-around great effort.”

Combs closed, “They (West) are a great team. Johnny (Galyon) does a great job and is a fantastic coach. I have the utmost respect for him and the program he’s built at West.”

Galyon said it must have been a great game for the fans to watch. “It was two good teams that played really hard. I thought we had some turnovers that really cost us, especially a couple early in the third quarter.

“But give East credit,” he said. “I thought they played hard. I thought Hall was a difference maker for them. She hit a lot of big shots and made free throws at the end.”

He added, “We had some people play well, too. But we took a couple of really bad shots. I thought we got a good shot when we were down by one at the end but it just didn’t go in.”

It was a thriller from the start. There were six lead changes in the first quarter with a basket by Aubrie Messer giving West a 10-9 lead at the first stop.

The Lady Trojans pulled away to an 18-13 lead on a bucket by Weddington but Cloninger hit a three and Surber hit two free throws before West grabbed a 28-25 lead at intermission.

East came out in the second half with a 15-2 run that included two three’s from Hall and one each from Surber and Cloninger and a steal and layup by Hall.

West bounced right back behind Dinkins and Weddington to close within 45-44 before Riley Forester hit two free throws to give the Lady ‘Canes a three-point lead at the final break.

Dinkins’ three tied it but Wampler hit three free throws to put East in front 50-49. Weddington made another triple and Mikeala Olodey hit two free throws to give the Lady Trojans the four-point lead.

East’s scoring came from long range as they made 12 of 22 threes and finished 16 of 44 for 42.1 percent. West connected on 22 of 51 for 43.1 percent including 10 of 22 behind the arc.

The Lady Trojans had a 34-33 rebounding edge as Jhaniya Mitchell grabbed seven. Surber had seven for East.