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Rivalry games bring out the best in players and Friday night’s matchups between Morristown East and Morristown West were no exception.

In the opener, East’s Hailey Hall hit three free throws in the final minute and finished with 24 points as she led her Lady ‘Canes’ squad to just their second victory in the past 26 games against Morristown West.

“I just came out there and last time we won it was my freshman year, so I just wanted to get this dub tonight, Hall said.”

In the nightcap and trying to prevent a sweep for East, Morristown West’s Tory House and Bereket Evans were the heroes as they combined for 39 points and the Trojans held on for a six-point victory over East.

After falling twice to Morristown East last year, the win was significant for the Trojans as they continue to build a winning culture.

“It was great,” Evans said. “We knew we were going to have to play our best tonight, and that’s what we did. We know we can still play better, too.”

Morristown East- Hailey Hall

For opponents taking on Morristown East this season, the last thing they want to see is Hailey Hall’s early shots of the night going through the net.

That was the case Friday night as Hall drilled a three early on and was off from there for her 24 points.

The win was Morristown East coach Justin Combs’ first game against West in the rivalry, showing just how far the program has come in a short amount of time as they took down a team they had previously beaten just once in the past 25 matchups.

“This means a lot,” Hall, who was a part of both wins against West, said. “I think it shows that our program is building with Coach Combs here.”

A junior on a young team, Hall has had to be a leader for Combs. Timid to shoot when Combs first arrived at East, Hall has turned a corner and not let a missed shot affect her confidence.

“She’s a kid that we had to talk through not being afraid to let it go,” Combs said. “If you miss a few, you have to keep shooting. Shooters shoot. She’s really come a long way this year in terms of her confidence and stepping up and being a leader for us. That’s multiple games that she has gone out this year and made shots and scored the ball. The thing that I was most proud of is that she matched what she brought to us on the offensive floor to the defensive end. I thought she came up with some big steals tonight.”

Two of those steals by Hall came early in the second half as East came out of the locker room on fire and built a double-digit lead.

While West fought back into the game and actually took a multi-possession lead at 56-52 late in the game, East locked back in with Hall leading the comeback. After a Harmony Sullivan 3-pointer cut the lead to one, Hall found herself with the ball all alone in the corner and delivered a go-ahead trey with two minutes left.

After an empty possession from West, the Lady Trojans were looking to foul. And, for Combs, it was obvious who he wanted to get the ball to with West fouling.

“We were trying to get the ball in her (Hailey) hands and felt very comfortable with her having it that she was going to the line and make big free throws,” Combs said.

With a minute to go, Hall knocked down two free throws to make it a four-point game. However, West’s Delaney Weddington knocked down a three to cut it to one.

Then, with 20 seconds to go, adversity struck for East as Harmony Sullivan went down injured and the ball went out of bounds to West.

An emotional moment for the Lady ‘Canes to see their teammate injured, East huddled up and made a decision on the spot.

“It was tough, but we huddled up and knew that we just had to do it for her,” Hall said.

East did just that as they got a stop and then ran the clock all the way down to two seconds before Hall was fouled. Hall made the first free throw and missed the second, which worked in East’s favor as West had to get a quick rebound and fire a shot from half court that was missed.

While the win for East was important, it’s only the beginning for Combs, Hall and the Lady ‘Canes. To get where they want to go, East can’t let this be the high to the season and instead build off the big win.

“We just need to make sure we keep that same energy and intensity,” Hall said. “We just need to keep moving forward.”

Morristown West – Tory House and Bereket Evans

Tory House set the tone early for Morristown West on Friday night, but it was Bereket Evans that ended it.

House recorded a double-double in the first half against Morristown East and finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Evans was just as good with 19 points,10 of them coming in the fourth quarter, and finished the game off with an acrobatic layup.

“We were wanting Bereket to lead us, and he stepped up and made some big shots for us,” Morristown West coach Joe Dobyns said. “We were happy for him to get back into that role. Tory, we felt like our size was to our advantage and wanted to use that. Before the game, Tory was as locked in as I have seen him so I knew he was ready to go.”

That intensity that Dobyns saw from House had a reason behind it as Friday’s night game meant a little more to House.

“That’s my old school so I just had to t (turn) up,” House said.

For Evans, while the offensive performance was one that got the headlines, it was what he did on the defensive end that won the game for West.

Evans was the first to guard East star Kyle Cloninger in the game and held Cloninger to just 19 points. Coming in, Cloninger was averaging almost 27 points per game.

“We just straight up guarded him,” Evans said. “We felt like our guards had a better chance of guarding their guys, and I thought we did a good job.”

“We just wanted to sit down and try and guard him,” Dobyns added. “Kyle is a great player, and we have a lot of respect for him. Whenever he gave it up, we wanted to deny him and limit his touches. We knew we wouldn’t be able to hold him down forever, but we just tried to limit him and then sit down and guard when he had the ball.”

The game was a back-and-forth affair with West leading 63-58 late. But, East answered with four quick points to make it a one-point game.

Following a couple empty possessions from both sides, West went up two on a free throw by McCullough. After a turnover from West, Evans guided the Trojans down the court through a press that West has struggled with all season. West got the ball to Bricyn Gudger who hit a layup and was fouled.

From there, West hung on and an Evans layup at the buzzer gave the Trojans a 69-63 win. Just a sophomore, Evans’ playing time as a freshman last year was beneficial in Friday night’s final minutes.

“Just being there already, we know what to expect and how to handle it,” Evans said. “And then we were able to spread that leadership to our teammates.”

The win improved West’s record to 9-7 on the season, already three wins over last year’s win total. It also gave West a 2-0 record in the conference and sole possession of first place.

While all that is nice, it’s only the beginning for West as they hope this win gets them back on the right track to achieving their season goals.

“We started off 7-1 but then we went into a slump,” Evans said. “I think tonight is a good start to get back. We need to keep it that way.”