STONE, PENNER, HAWKINSON LEAD LADY EAGLES

By William

The game was closer than the score may appear to be, but for the Elyria Christian girls it still means they lost 50-31 to Central Plains in the substate championship game, ending their season.

With the defeat, the Lady Eagles end the season with a 16-4 record.

“This was a great experience for our girls today,” pointed out Lady Eagle head coach Greg Fields. “I wish this game could have been played at the state tournament because we did a really nice job of competing. We were within eight points with four minutes to go in the game and at that point I felt like the winner of this game would have a good chance to get a state title, but we gave up some open threes at the end to make the score a lot wider margin than it felt like – but I could not have been prouder of the way our girls played as a team.”

Elyria was within three points, 13-10, at the end of the first quarter but fell behind by 10 going into the halftime break. As Coach Fields noted, the Lady Eagles pulled within eight with just four minutes to go before Central Plains dropped several late game three pointers to put the game away.

Coach Fields gave some player recognitions during his post-game reflections when he added, “Ryland (Hawkinson) had a monster first quarter and that helped get us back in the game after we were down early 9-2. Our girls were a little shocked at the athleticism that Central Plains had, but Ryland set the tone of bringing our own physicality, and the rest of the team responded. Kylee (Penner) played with a lot of confidence today and Allie (Stone) has really stepped up her game in all aspects as she has become a huge outside threat on offense, and she joins Olivia Peters in creating a lot of havoc on defense.”

Allie Stone led the Lady Eagles in the scorebook with 12 points, all from three-pointers, while Kylee Penner joined her in double digits with 11 and Ryland Hawkinson chipped in with eight as only three girls scored in the game.

Hawkinson led the team in rebounds with six while Stone, Penner and Hawkinson each had three steals on defense.

Concluding his post-game reflections, Coach Fields said, “This group has had an outstanding season, and I am excited to see how they develop over the next several months and continue to improve. I know they are still hungry, and they are capable of accomplishing some big things next season. We had just two seniors this year in Connie Schott and Randi Cooper. Connie has been plagued with injuries during the past two seasons, but she helped show our young girls how to play hard when she transferred in from Hesston her sophomore year. Randi has been an incredibly dedicated young lady who has worked unselfishly to help her teammates improve over the last four years. She didn’t see a lot of time on the court, but she was happy to work hard to motivate and push her teammates every day in practice.”

Central Plains vs. ELYRIA CHRISTIAN LADY EAGLES

SCORING:                 Q1      Q2      Q3      Q4      FINAL

Central Plains          13       12       9          16       50

LADY EAGLES           10       5          10       6          31

Central Plains Team Stats: FG 22-41; 3PT 5-18; FT 1-2; AST 14; RBS 25; TO 14; STL 11; BLK 3; FLS 7.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN LADY EAGLES TEAM STATS: FG 11-40; 3PT 5-22; FT 4-7; AST 7; RBS 22; TO 16; STL 11; BLK 0; FLS 7.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN LADY EAGLES INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:

Scoring (31): Allie Stone – 12; Kylee Penner – 11; Ryland Hawkinson – 8.

3-Pointers Made (5): Stone – 4; Penner – 1.

Assists (7): Olivia Peters – 4; KiLynn Starburg – 2; Olivia Clark – 1.

Rebounds (22): Hawkinson – 6; Penner – 4; Peters, Starburg – 3; Clark, Randi Cooper – 1.

Steals (11): Stone, Penner, Hawkinson – 3; Peters, Starburg – 1.

{Elyria Christian Eagle Postings are SPONSORED by CrossDove Creations}