Basketball ~ Lady Eagles drop a pair

Wednesday, 11 January 2012 8:29

(Haleigh Gross shoots and connects for a three-pointer against Fremont. Gross led the Eagles with 13 points on the night. She also led the Eagles with 14 points against Hamilton.) photo by hiatt

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by Don Hiatt

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The Lady Eagles traveled to Fremont Friday night in part of the varsity night games.

Fremont got the first two points of the night and got the ball back. Then Heather Monk from Busco made the steal and a two point lay-up to tie the game early. Fremont would take the lead back right away making it 4-2. Monk would then get an offensive rebound and put the ball back up for two more points for the Lady Eagles. Fremont Eagles would make two free throws giving them the 6-4 lead. Busco’s Chandler Blake hits a three from the side to give the Lady Eagles their only lead of the night. Fremont would get three more points before senior Haleigh Gross made a basket for the Lady Eagles. Fremont would again get three more points to end the first quarter 12-9 Fremont.

“We played well in the first quarter tonight,” stated Coach Jamie Perlich. “We got after it offensively. You could tell Fremont was getting a little frustrated with our play in the first quarter. I think our girls started great on defense. We are the type of team where if we play well on defense, our offense kind of clicks. That’s what happened to us in the first quarter.”

Monk scored first again in the second quarter but Fremont answered back with three more of their own before Kristine Bechtold would put another two points on the scoreboard for the Lady Eagles. Fremont then went on a 9-0 run until Gross made one out of two from the free-throw line. Four more points by Fremont to close out the first half would put the host team up 28-14 at the break.

“We struggled from the foul line tonight and I’m not sure why,” explained Coach Perlich. “Every time we get a chance on the foul line, we have to hit them.”

Busco didn’t get on the scoreboard until 6:22 in the third quarter with a two point bucket from Gross. Fremont had already scored one basket and would get another four points before Gross would make 1-2 from the free-throw line. Fremont then went on a 5-0 run until Gross stopped the run again going 2-2 from the free-throw line. Busco would then get two more points from Jacey Keener to end the third quarter 40-22 Fremont.

“This was not one of our better nights in blocking out,” said Coach Perlich.

Churubusco kept the ball rolling into the fourth quarter getting a three point basket from Gross who also got an offensive rebound and a two point bucket cutting Fremont’s lead to within 13. Fremont would answer back with five straight points of their own until Keener goes to the free- throw line and makes two. Fremont would get two more points and Katie Monk would make a two point basket to end the game 49-31 Fremont.

“Gross played her best game against Westview,” explained Coach Perlich. “Got hurt and was out for two games. She played a little bit at Heritage, but she wasn’t back to herself. Tonight, I thought she kind of got herself back into it. She started shooting the ball with confidence and doing some really good things for us and that’s going to help with her getting better and leading this team.”

Saturday night, the Lady Eagles hosted the Hamilton Marines. The Lady Eagles started the game going on a 5-0 run until Hamilton hit a big three-pointer to start a 7-0 run. The Lady Eagles would tie the game with two points from Montana Martin and take the lead with a free throw from Blake. But Hamilton would get two more points with 10 seconds to go in the first quarter to make it 9-8 Hamilton.

Hamilton started the second quarter with a 4-0 run until the Lady Eagles got a basket and one from Gross to make it 13-11 Hamilton. Hamilton and Busco would exchange free throws until Hamilton made two baskets all within 16 seconds left in the half to make it 21-15 Hamilton.

Hamilton started the third quarter with a basket. Busco’s Labenz went 1-2 from the free-throw line. The Lady Marines then went on a 6-0 run before Martin went 1-2 from the line to end the third quarter 31-17 Hamilton.

Fourth quarter started with a two point basket from Lacey Pulley. Hamilton answered back with three points of their own. Gross would answer with a basket while Hamilton got two points from the free-throw line and two more from a bucket. Busco’s Blake would score two and then Hamilton answered back with a two. Gross would put one more point on the board going 1-2 from the line and then the Lady Eagles and Lady Marines would exchange points on the free-throw line for the rest of the game making it 46-32 Hamliton.

The Lady Eagles start the conference tournament this week.

by Don Hiatt

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Lady Eagles traveled to Fremont Friday night in part of the varsity night games.

“We struggled from the foul line tonight and I’m not sure why,” explained Coach Perlich. “Every time we get a chance on the foul line, we have to hit them.”

“This was not one of our better nights in blocking out,” said Coach Perlich.

The Lady Eagles start the conference tournament this week.