ELYRIA CHRISTIAN BASKETBALL

writingwithwilldur
Feb 22
4 min read

ELYRIA GIRLS DROP FINAL 2 TO RANKED TEAMS

By Staff

ELYRIA – The Elyria Christian girls basketball team had a tough hill to conquer in losing their final two games of the 2024/25 regular season beginning with a 31-67 loss on Friday, February 14 to Class 1A Division I top ranked Little River and then dropping a 19-41 game at Halstead, ranked number two in Class 3A, on Friday.

Finishing the season with a pair of losses, the Lady Eagles close out the campaign with a record of 11-9 as they prep for the first round of the Class 1A Division II sub-state playoffs on Monday, February 24 as the number eight seed and play host to ninth seeded Buffalo/Altoona-Midway. The Lady Jets finished their regular season 6-11. If the Lady Eagles win, they will then play number one seed South Haven on Saturday, March 1.

In the game against top ranked and unbeaten Little River, Elyria dug a hole early, falling behind by 20, 7-27, by the end of the first quarter and trailing by 31, 11-42, at the halftime break. The Lady Eagles did manage to outscore the Lady Redskins 16-8 in the fourth quarter, but still took a final 36-point, 31-67 loss.

“It was fun going up against one of the best teams in the state at any level,” noted Lady Eagle head coach Greg Fields. “Little River is very athletic and talented. Their girls worked hard to get where they are, and it is great to see them work together. I was happy with the effort our girls gave, and that they did not give up even when the game was out of reach.”

Addison Swenson and Joy Pyle shared scoring leadership with 14 points each as Pyle just missed a double-double with a team high eight rebounds. Swenson had the only four three-pointers in the game for Elyria.

Coach Fields concluded his Little River post-game comments by adding, “Addison (Swenson) showed real leadership and continued her shooting excellence. Joy (Pyle) had a real challenge tonight against some very talented post players, but she did a great job increasing her aggressiveness. Grace (Prescott) handled their press well and finished by dishing out seven assists.”

Jumping right back into the battle of top ranked teams this Friday, the Lady Eagles stepped up to challenge the number two ranked team in Class 3A, Halstead, where they lost 19-41.

“This was a good experience for our girls to face a top ranked 3A school,” pointed out coach Fields. “I was very happy with the effort our team gave throughout the game. I know that Halstead gets a lot of points in transition coming off turnovers, and other than in the third quarter, we did a rather good job of limiting those. Our lack of depth hurts us in the second half as exhaustion was really evident.”

After trailing by six, 5-11, at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Eagles still were down by just seven, 10-17, at the halftime break before the offense went cold and they scored just two points in the third quarter as Halstead pulled away to take a 30-12 lead into the final quarter where they finished out the final 22-point, 19-41 defeat of Elyria.

Joy Pyle was the lone Lady Eagle to score in double digits with 11 while Addison Swenson and freshman Sidney Hall worked hard on the boards, grabbing nine and seven rebounds, respectively.

Coach Fields concluded his post-Halstead game reflections by noting, “Joy (Pyle) had a great game, going five-of-six from the field while Addison (Swenson) was extremely aggressive on defense and while rebounding. This was also a great experience for Sidney Hall who did not play like a freshman tonight.”

LADY EAGLES hosting Little River, Friday, February 14

SCORING = Lady Eagles lost 31-67

Lady Eagles = 7-4-4-16 = 31; Little River = 27-15-17-8 = 67.

TEAM STATS =

Lady Eagles = 2fgs – 8/18; 3pts – 4/15; fts – 3/8; asst – 10; rbs – 19; stls – 10; blks – 2; to – 25; fls – 15.

Little River = 2fgs – 22/35; 3pts – 5/14; fts – 8/12; asst – n/a; rbs – 21; stls – 18; blks – 2; to – 12; fls – 8.

LADY EAGLE INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS =

Scoring (31) = Addison Swenson, Joy Pyle – 14; Sidney Hall – 3.

3-Pointers Made (4) = Swenson – 4.

Assists (10) = Grace Prescott – 7; Swenson – 2.

Rebounds (19) = Pyle – 8; Amelia Moody – 4; Sidney Hall – 2.

Steals (10) = Swenson, Prescott – 3; Pyle – 2.