By Staff

            GOESSEL – It was a great day to be a Canton/Galva Eagle on Tuesday as both the boys and girls won their second-round games in the Goessel Bluebird Classic Tournament by beating Goessel, it was the Lady Eagles first win of the young season.

            Both teams will play a third game of the tournament on Saturday depending on the Friday games.

            For the Lady Eagles, they earned their first victory of the season by outscoring Goessel 11-1 in overtime to earn the final 10-point, 53-43 win. The Lady Eagles were led by Trinity Espinoza who connected on ten-of-nineteen shots from the field on her way to scoring a whopping 31 points. Both Lili Espinoza and Mimi Craig pitched in with seven points each with Mimi Craig also leading the team in the paint by grabbing 11 rebounds.

            “We really played a good game against a very good and well coached team,” noted Lady Eagle head coach Brad Willems. “I love how we continue to compete and try to get better every game. I was really happy how we didn’t quit after being down at the end of the third by eight and then fought back to get into overtime where we outscored the 11-1.”

            As a team the Lady Eagles swiped 18 steals in the game led by Adi Alcala with six and Lili Espinoza swiping four.

            Coach Willems concluded his post-game reflections by adding, “This was a big game for us as we grew up a lot in this game and realized we can win! We still have work to do, and we can’t stop putting in the effort, but I love the direction we are going.”

LADY EAGLE INDIVIDUAL STATS:

Scoring: Trinity Espinoza – 31; Lili Espinoza – 7; Mimi Craig – 7; Sage Toews – 4; Adi Alcald – 4.

Rebounds: Mimi Craig – 11; Trinity Espinoza, Lili Espinoza – 5; Brecken Pearson – 4; Emmerson Hoppes – 3.

Assists: Lili Espinoza – 2; Trinity Espinoza, Mimi Craig, Adi Alcala – 1.

Steals: Adi Alcala – 6; Lili Espinoza – 4; Trinity Espinoza, Mimi Craig – 3; Brecken Pearson – 2.

Blocked Shots: Trinity Espinoza, Mimi Craig – 1.

The Eagle boys used a strong first quarter to propel them to a six-point, 42-36 win.

            After taking a 15-4 first quarter lead, Goessel played the Eagles even in the second which enabled Canton/Galva to go into the halftime break with a 27-16 advantage. Goessel trimmed the deficit to just two at 29-27 at the end of the third quarter before Canton/Galva reached their final six-point, 42-36 win.

            Jett Vincent and Lane McMannis led the Eagles in scoring with 12 and 10 points each while Garrett Maltbie chipped in with nine.

            “We started off very well,” explained Eagle head coach Larry O’Connor. “but with still only having a couple of practices and with our style of play, we ran out of gas and had to dig deep to get the win.”

SCORING: EAGLES 15-12-2-13=42; Goessel 4-12-9-11=36.

EAGLES INDIVIDUAL SCORING LEADERS: Jett Vincent – 12; Lane McMannis – 10; Garrett Maltbie – 9; Cason Mastre – 6; Walker Nightingale – 5.

(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)

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