ELYRIA LADY EALGES NIPPED BY CENTRAL CHRISTIAN

Prescott Top Lady Eagle Scorer

By Staff

GOESSEL – In their opening game of the Goessel Bluebird Classic Tournament, the Elyria Christian girls basketball team fell just four points short of a win, losing to Hutchinson Central Christian 28-32.

Considering the first game humbling Friday by the youthful Lady Eagles, they earned a two-point, 7-5 lead at the end of the first quarter and continued to hold a two-point, 15-13 advantage heading into the halftime break.

Then came the third quarter where Elyria could only muster two points while Central Christian scored eight to take a four-point, 17-21 lead into the final eight minutes of play where both teams scored 11 points to give Central Christian the final four-point win.

“I really enjoyed seeing our team begin to work together and figure out how to deal with pressure in a tight game,” pointed out Lady Eagle head coach Greg Fields. “Central Christian has some good athletes, and they are very well coached. We saw how some tougher defense can get us back into games when we fought our way back to tie the game with a couple of minutes left in the fourth quarter.”

Grace Prescott led the Lady Eagles in scoring with 11 with both Addi Swenson and Joy Pyle each chipping in with six. Six Lady Eagles pulled down rebounds with Makenna Cass leading the way with five. The Elyria defense forced Central Christian into making 24 turnovers which was two more than the Lady Eagles had.

Coach Fields finished his post-game comments by saying, “Grace (Prescott) had a great game after committing two turnovers early. She only ended up with one more the rest of the way and led us in scoring. She creates a lot of her points off steals, and then creates open looks for her teammates by getting through defenders. Addison (Swenson) had another solid game on both offense and defense as she is becoming a real threat from the three-point line while also learning to take the point guard position whenever Grace is out. Julia (Allen) did a very nice job of playing smart defense with four fouls the majority of the game.”

It will be an extremely short turnaround for the Lady Eagles as they return to Goessel for a game with powerhouse Little River on Tuesday before finishing up on Friday with a tangle with host Goessel.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN LADY EAGLES BASKETBALL

Vs. Hutchinson Central Christian

SCORING > Lady Eagles lost 28-32

LADY EAGLES > 7-8-2-11 = 28; Central Christian > 5-8-8-11 = 32.

TEAM STATS > Lady Eagles > 2-FGs – 8/19; FTs – 3/6; 3-PTs – 3/16; Assists – 5; REBs (Off/Def) – 20 (10/10); STLs – 8; BLKs – 2; TOs – 22; FLs 17. Central Christian > 2-FGs – 10/23; FTs – 6/16; 3-PTs – 2/11; Assists – 1; REBs (Off/Def) – 26 (12/14); STLs – 8; BLKs – 3; TOs – 24; FLs – 11.

LADY EAGLES STAT LEADERS >

Scoring (28) > Grace Prescott – 11; Addison Swenson – 6; Joy Pyle – 6; Julia Allen – 3; Makenna Cass – 2. 3-Pointers Made > Swenson – 2; Allen – 1.

Assists (5) > Addison Swenson – 2.

Rebounds (20) > Makenna Cass – 5; Joy Pyle/Carlie Joe Robbins/Addison Swenson – 3; Julia Allen/Hannah Bower – 2.

Steals (8) > Addison Swenson – 3; Grace Prescott/Julia Allen – 2.

Blocks (2) > Grace Prescott/Joy Pyle – 1.

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