The Eagle girls varsity basketball team hosted West Division rival Forest City last Tuesday to open Top of Iowa play. The purple & gold struggled offensively, and were unable to reach double-digit points in any of the quarters in falling 57-26 to the visiting Indians. The visitors led 14-8 after a quarter and 28-16 at halftime. With the game still not totally out of the Eagles reach, they could only muster 10 more points over the entire second half.
The team shot 28.6 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from the line and 23.1 percent from three-point land. They made 24 total rebounds and had 12 total steals
Indians 57, Eagles 26
Player Pts. Rbs. Asts. Stls
H.Sampson 9 4 0 4
Friedl 4 2 0 0
Lyman 5 5 0 0
K.Sampson 0 3 0 2
Andersen 0 3 0 0
M.Sampson 6 3 0 4
Kaiser 0 0 0 1
Osborn 2 0 0 0
Thul 0 1 0 0
Steil 0 1 0 1
Lewis 0 0 0 0
Ettinger 0 0 0 0
Blocked Shots: Lyman 1
Three-pointers: M. Sampson 2, H. Sampson 1
Earlier in the week, they visited Clarion-Goldfield-Dows to open the season and played better in dropping a 70-41 contest to the Cowgirls. The Eagles busted out of the gate for a strong first quarter, as Ariane Lyman hit the first two buckets to get them going. The Cowgirls soon tied it at 4-4, followed on the next possession by Braxton Steil driving in to score and gain the lead back. Hannah Sampson then buried a three-pointer from the corner for a 9-4 advantage, and came back down to knock in a two-point strike for 11-4. A run by the Cowgirls closed it to 13-11 Eagles as the period ended.
The second quarter saw Kaitlin Sampson get into the act with a basket for 15-13, with Hannah driving in and dishing it back to Kaitlin for an easy score in the paint. The Cowgirls took an 18-17 lead as the Eagles shooting went cold, and that stretch would ultimately prove fatal to their chances for victory. At 25-17 CGD, coach Herrington called time to regroup his charges. Coming out of that, they still couldn’t find the rim as it went to a 29-17 deficit. Lea Friedl finally broke the ice with a drive down the lane for two and drew the foul. After missing her throws, she liked the play so much she did it again the next time down. She still could not drop in either, and the half soon ended at 34-21 Cowgirls.
The third quarter saw an early trey by Hannah make it 37-24, followed by the Cowgirls going on yet another run as the Eagles had trouble again finding their shooting touch. Kaitlin bombed in a trey as well in the period, and it ended at 49-34 as the Eagles tried their best to stay within striking distance. Early in the fourth, Friedl would stop and pop a three for 51-37, followed later by Lyman sinking a couple of throws for a 55-39 score. The Cowgirls would then cruise along from there to the final buzzer.
“We started well, but in only playing seven we ran out of gas,” stated Mike Herrington. “The starters want as many wins as they can, but we also need to get minutes for the others. We need to go eight or nine deep. We were at a height disadvantage. We weren’t afraid to shoot from the outside, but we also gave up defensive rebounds. If we can all learn from our mistakes we can get better as a team.”
He then talked about the first quarter his team enjoyed. “When CGD ran a man to man against us to start, our spread offense worked well,” said the coach. “Then in the second they switched to a 2-3 zone. Their press got us off a little, but we settled in and broke it. Our three-point shooting was decent. The Cowgirls strength is in the lane and strong post play with Middleton. They also like to push the tempo. They crashed the weak side boards on us for second chance points.”
The team shot 34.1 percent from the field, 62.5 percent at the line and 28.6 percent from three-point range. They made 14 total rebounds and six total steals.
Cowgirls 70, Eagles 41
Player Pts. Rbs. Ast. Stl.
M.Sampson 0 2 1 2
H.Sampson 13 0 0 0
Friedl 7 2 0 3
Lyman 9 6 0 1
K.Sampson 10 4 0 0
Kaiser 0 0 0 0
Osborn 0 0 0 0
Thul 0 0 0 0
Steil 2 0 0 0
Andersen 0 0 0 0
Blocked shots: none
Three-pointers: H. Sampson 3, K. Sampson 2,
Friedl 1
On Friday night in Britt they lost to West Hancock 74-28. The team had their best shooting night of the season, with 40.0 percent from the field. They were also 40.0 percent from the line and 40.0 percent from three-point land. They made 32 total rebounds, five assists and five steals.
West Hancock 74, Eagles 28
Player Pts. Rbs. Ast. Stl.
M.Sampson 4 2 0 3
Kaiser 0 0 0 0
H.Sampson 6 3 3 1
Osborn 2 1 0 0
Thul 0 1 0 0
Friedl 4 4 0 0
Steil 4 5 1 0
Lewis 0 0 0 0
Lyman 4 1 0 0
K.Sampson 2 5 1 1
Andersen 2 6 0 0
Ettinger 0 0 0 0
Blocked shots: none
Three-pointers: none
“In regards to Forest City and West Hancock, we played two quality and structurally sound programs,” said Herrington. “They are very disciplined on offense and while applying a defensive concept that forces teams to play the offense they want you to play. It’s continual face-to-face defensive pressure that forces mistakes and turnovers. Those then turn into offensive possessions, fast breaks and offensive points for them. The game of basketball is won by executing a balanced inside-outside game and getting high percentage shots over the course of a game. We get ourselves in trouble by rushing the ball and making unnecessary passes up the court, playing into the hands of the opponent and creating double-digit turnovers. These are the types of mistakes we made against these three teams. At times we are making progress and just need to keep working with unity and for a common goal. Building confidence and skills in our bench gives us the opportunity to keep fresher bodies on the court. If we play to our skills while working to maintain strong possessions of the ball wins will come for our program.”
The team travels to Algona this Friday to take on Bishop Garrigan.
