Eisenhower’s Laney Belcher attempts to dribble past a Union City defender in Region 3 girls basketball action on Monday. Times Observer photo by Steve Younger

RUSSELL — The Eisenhower girls basketball team picked up a big Region 3 win Monday night, downing Union City 74-63.

Leading the way were Clara Steinberg with 29 points, Lainey Font had 19 and Laney Belcher added 16 to help the Knights improve to 11-2 overall and 4-2 in the region, their best start to a season in more than 20 years.

Font and Steinberg each had a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter to help the Knights open up a 21-14 lead.

Helped by its defense, Union City’ closed the deficit to 33-27 at the break, but Belcher’s nine third-quarter points helped Eisenhower seize a 55-42 advantage heading into the final period.

Eisenhower would need the cushion as its shooting went cold and Union City went on a 12-2 run to start the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 57-54 with four minutes remaining.

Font would drain a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to give the hosts some breathing room and Union City was forced to foul. Steinberg would make them pay as she hit 8 of 11 free throws down the stretch to give Eisenhower the win.

“Union City is a good team and a big team,” Eisenhower head coach D.J. Steinberg said. “The play of Samantha Childs and (Tracey) Jakubczak was crucial tonight. They held their two bigs in check and really hit the boards for us. I thought our girls executed very well tonight, and when we do that it is tough for teams to match up to our guard play. It was great to see Laney Belcher step up offensively and Clara was clutch down the stretch for us at the line. All in all, this was a real team win. When we play like we did tonight, we are a fun team to watch and the girls are having fun.”

Union City was led by Brooke Vantassel, who had 24 points.

Eisenhower is back in action on Thursday when it travels to Northwestern for a 7 p.m. game.

UNION CITY (63)

Hunter 2 2 7, Cummings 5 0 14, Leech 1 0 2, Cole 1 0 2, Kent 0 1 1, Greer 4 5 13, Vantassel 10 4 24, Totals 23 12 63.

EISENHOWER (74)

Jakubczak 3 0 7, Font 6 3 19, Childs 2 1 5, Belcher 5 5 16, Steinberg 6 13 27, Totals 22 22 74.

3-point goals — Hunter, Cummings 4, Jakubczak, Font 4, Belcher, Steinberg 2.

Union City 14 13 15 21 — 63

Eisenhower 21 12 22 19 — 74