STONE LEADS LADY EAGLES

By William

ELYRIA – It was not as they hoped it would be, but the Elyria Christian girls did their best to keep up with Berean Academy at home on Tuesday, but poor shooting seemed to doom the score as they took a 37-24 loss.

Berean went up by four by the end of the first quarter and then held a seven-point, 19-12 advantage heading into the halftime break before outscoring the Lady Eagles 18-12 in the final two quarters to take the 13-point win.

“Our girls did a great job tonight playing with a lot of energy,” pointed out Lady Eagle head coach Greg Fields when sharing his reflections on the game. “I could not have been more pleased with the effort they put out there, especially on defense. We did a nice job keeping Berean a little confused and out of their comfort zone for the most part, but we gave up too many second looks on the boards. Berean is very tall and athletic, and we did not do a very good job of blocking out after their shots went up. Rebounding was a big difference in the game.”

Speaking of rebounding, Berean out rebounded the Elyria 30-13, with many of those on their offensive end, all of which counteracted Elyria forcing Berean into making 26 turnovers.

Shooting may have been the biggest culprit to the game for the Lady Eagles as they shot just 23% from the field making seven less field goals than Berean despite taking five more shots.

Coach Fields reflected on the offensive woes by saying, “We had a terrible night shooting close to the basket, but a lot of credit goes to the Berean bigs protecting the inside. We were fortunate to connect on several three’s tonight, and I was happy with the way our girls shot from outside in rhythm and with confidence.”

Allie Stone was the lone Lady Eagle to reach double digits in the scorebook as she had 11 while Kylee Penner chipped in with seven.

Olivia Peters had a strong game on defense by making six steals while Ryland Hawkinson did a solid overall job with four rebounds, four steals and a blocked shot.

Now 15-4 for the season, the Lady Eagles will close out their regular season with a road trip to Little River on Thursday before having a first-round bye in the Class 1A Division II substate playoffs.

Berean Academy at ELYRIA CHRISTIAN LADY EAGLES

SCORING:                 Q1      Q2      Q3      Q4      FINAL

Berean Academy    10       9          14       4          37

LADY EAGLES           6          6          9          3          24

Berean Academy Team Stats: FG 15-29; 3PT 0-2; FT 7-9; AST 10; RBS 30; TO 26; STL 17; BLK 2; FLS 11.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN LADY EAGLES TEAM STATS: FG 8-34; 3PT 5-14; FT 3-7; AST 7; RBS 13; TO 21; STL 18; BLK 1; FLS 9.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN LADY EAGLES INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:

Scoring (24): Allie Stone – 11; Kylee Penner – 7; Alexus Swenson – 3; Ryland Hawkinson – 2; Olivia Peters – 1.

3-Pointers Made (5): Stone – 3; Penner, Swenson – 1.

Assists (7): Penner, Peters – 2; Stone, Olivia Clark, Macy Reiff – 1.

Rebounds (13): Hawkinson – 4; Penner – 3; KiLynn Starburg – 2; Stone, Peters, Reiff – 1.

Steals (18): Peters – 6; Hawkinson – 4; Starburg – 3; Penner, Clark – 2; Stone – 1.

Blocked Shots (1): Hawkinson – 1.

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