VS. NORTH UNION
Hosting their final basketball game for the 2021/2022 season, the Eagle Grove Eagles took on the North Union Warriors last Monday.
From tip-off, the Eagles and Warriors fought for the ball with one similar goal in mind: winning. The Warriors took control of the game early on as they flew through the first eight minutes, scoring 15 points. The Eagles, though conceding 15, remained present in the match–not allowing the score to affect their drive. The Eagles scored nine points in the first quarter, only six points down as they headed to the second. The second quarter was a mere point short from mirroring the first quarter completely. Scoring the same amount of points, the Eagles went into half-time with 18 points while the Warriors had 29 points.
As the second half arrived, the Warriors scored less points, as did the Eagles. Scoring only six points in the third quarter, the Eagles conceded ten points from the Warriors, who gained a 15 point lead by the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter required an impressive comeback from the Eagles to claim victory during their final home game. However, the ending of the match didn’t end the way the Eagles had hoped. The Warriors scored 19 while the Eagles scored 10, ending the match in a 58-34 defeat for the Eagles.
After the Warriors, the Eagles traveled to North Iowa on Feb. 4, as they were hoping for a victory over the 10-9 Bison.
Coach Pedersen described the end of the match as a monumental moment, explaining, “Tuesday night’s game is a night that many of us will remember for a long time. We may not have won the game but I think both of our communities won the night. Both teams featured young men with special needs in the starting lineups. Both were able to hit 3 pointers in the first 2 minutes of the game. Both teams showed great sportsmanship and love to both players. On our side of the action, Jaden hit his three pointer at the start of the game and members of our student section stormed the court and picked Jaden up. The student section was pumped, our players were pumped, and Jaden was pumped. We caught the whole thing on video. In fact, we posted it on the Hawkeye Heaven Facebook page,” Pedersen ended his description with something truly spectacular about the event and his emotions concerning the end of the season, “there have been over 204,000 views. I will miss all three of our seniors from this season. Every one of them has a special place on this team.”
Game stats were not available by press time
VS. NORTH IOWA
The Eagles took on the North Iowa Bison last Friday night with only three games left in the regular season, including the Bison. The game was won by the Bison, as they dominated the Eagles with a score of 63-30.
The game opened with a crushing first quarter. Crushed by the Bison, the Eagles managed to put up four points. Crushing the Eagles, the Bison scored 14 points. From the first eight minutes of the game, the Eagles were down by 10 points. In the second quarter, the Eagles “woke up” as they managed to score 12 points over the Bison. But no games can be won with just the help of offense. Defense is needed to win games, and unfortunately, the Eagles lacked defensive denial as the Bison worked around the Eagles and scored another 14 points. By half-time, the Bison were up 28-16.
The third quarter saw another dominating eight minutes from the Bison, who scored 19 points. The Eagles added eight points to the scoreboard before heading into the final quarter, with the score at 47-24. As the final quarter arrived, the performances continued. The Bison had another dominant quarter, adding 16 points to their lead while letting up six points to the Eagles.
The game ended 63-30 with the Bison on top. Next for the Eagles were fellow Eagles, West Hancock, as they were set to travel to West Hancock on Feb. 7.
Pedersen added his reflections on the game, stating, “Coming into this game we knew we were going to have to do two main things in order to stay in the ball game: take care of the ball and rebound. The first time we played the Bison, we had a season-high 36 turnovers and gave up way too many offensive rebounds. We did a much better job in both areas on Friday but weren’t able to shoot the ball all that great. The boys never gave up and really worked hard throughout the game.”
Game stats were not available by press time
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