Asiya McDonald drives toward the basket Saturday to help Eastside beat the Fort White Indians 53-43. [Addisyn Boatright]

Eastside Girls Basketball Triumphs On Senior Night

The Eastside Rams girls basketball team celebrated Senior Night on Saturday with a 53-43 win against the Fort White Indians.

Fort White (13-7) won the jump ball, but it was freshman Ke’Aisha Williams for the Rams to be the first to score with a floater.

The Indians attempted a 2-2-1 zone press to slow the Rams (10-10), but it was no use, as Eastside controlled the first quarter. With a fast break 3-pointer by freshman Asiya McDonald, the Rams went up 13 with 2:47 left in the first. Rams then ended the first quarter up 20-6.

Despite a defensive master class by junior Merveille Namusura on the Indians, FWHS slowly cut into the Rams lead. The Rams struggled offensively until senior Akira Martin scored on a fast-break layup four minutes into the second quarter.

Fort White kept inching back, but the Rams maintain their lead at 22-17 at the half.

Second Half

Fort White cut the EHS lead to three points three minutes into the second half. From this point on, the teams went bucket for bucket to keep a tie: Martin scored a layup, then the Indians did, McDonald with a 3-pointer and FWHS followed with a 3-pointer.

The score was tied 32-32 until Keyauri O’Neal made two free throws to give the Rams the lead and stop the Indians’ run. After a back-and-forth quarter, the Rams held a 39-36 lead.

Trinity Cooper goes up strong against Fort White’s Isreal Hart on Saturday. [Addisyn Boatright]
The final-quarter scoring was slowed by turnovers and jump balls on both ends. However, it was McDonald once again with back-to-back 3-pointers and a layup to seal the win.

The Rams survived a brutal second half. McDonald was their leading scorer with 19 points and five 3s. Martin followed with 12 points.

Martin said she entered the regular-season finale excited and encouraged by Eastside coach Lonna Turner and her teammates to “do her big one,” which she did. Martin will take this mentality into the 4A-District 5 Tournament this week.

“We just gotta keep going. We got this,” she says.

Up Next

The second seed Rams hold a first-round bye and will host in Thursday’s semifinal the winner from the three seed North Marion Colts (11-13)-six seed Lake Weir Hurricanes (0-15) first-round game.

2025 FHSAA Girls Basketball District Tournaments 4A District 5

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