By Staff
GOESSEL – In the second round of games for the Goessel Bluebird Classic on Friday, the Little River girls took an early lead and never looked back in scoring a 25-point, 64-39 win over Elyria Christian.
“Another great team effort victory,” noted Lady Redskin head coach Brent Clark.
“This was a great test against one of the top teams in the state,” pointed out Elyria Christian head coach Greg Fields. “I was pretty happy with our offense for most of the game as they pressure the ball extremely well and do a nice job of speeding teams up. I thought that when we were able to settle in, we were getting the shots that we wanted.”
Little River doubled up the Lady Eagles to take a 20-10 lead at the end of the first quarter before pushing the advantage to 19 points at 37-18 heading to the halftime break.
After pushing their lead to over 20 at 52-30, the Lady Redskins held on to gain the final 64-39 victory over the Lady Eagles and stay unbeaten as the number one team in Class 1A Division I.
Both Alaina Eck and Aubrey Olander led Little River with 17 points each while Kate Ellwood chipped in with 11. Both Aubrey and Alaina just missed double-doubles with Aubrey leading the Lady Redskins in rebounding with nine while Alaina dished out eight assists.
Little River coach Clark concluded his post-game reflections by adding, “Aubrey (Olander) and Alaina (Eck) both had good night. Kate (Ellwood) came off the bench to reach double figures after going three-of-four on three-pointers and two-of-two on free throws. Havana (Olander), Addie (Strecker), Evie (Look), and Arrika (Feldman) are all freshmen who contributed to the victory.”
For the Lady Eagles, Ryland Hawkinson nearly had a double-double as she led the team in scoring with 11 points and rebounds with nine. Julia Allen chipped in with eight points as well.
Lady Eagle coach Fields finished his post-game thoughts by saying, “We definitely need to do a better job defensively. Little River has a lot of weapons, and there are times that they are going to make tough shots over our defenders, but we need to not give up as many open shots as we did tonight. Julia Allen played one of her best games of her career tonight as we saw a lot of improvement in her toughness towards the end of the season last year and she has raised her level of play again tonight. Ryland (Hawkinson) had a very tough assignment tonight and she did a great job, both on offense and defense. To almost have a double-double against a team of that caliber says a lot.”
LITTLE RIVER LADY REDSKINS vs. ELYRIA CHRISTIAN LADY EAGLES at Bluebird Classic
SCORING: LADY REDSKINS 20-17-15-12=64; LADY EAGLES 10-8-12-9=39.
TEAM STATS: LADY REDSKINS FGs – 21/39; 3-PTs – 5/9; FTs – 7/14; AST – 12; REBs – 20; TO – 16; STLs – 13; BLKs – 5; FLs – 14. LADY EAGLES = FGs – 14/34; 3-PTs – 2/7; FTs – 5/10; AST – 10; REBs – 19; TO – 17; STLs – 11; BLKs – 0; FLs – 13.
LADY REDSKIN INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:
Scoring: Alaina Eck – 17; Aubrey Olander – 17; Kate Ellwood – 11; Havana Olander – 6; Arrika Feldman – 6; Evie Look – 5; Adelyn Strecker – 3.
3-Pointers Made: Ellwood – 3; Eck, Look – 1.
Assists: Eck – 8; Ashley Stephenson – 2; A. Olander, Kami Grasser – 1.
Rebounds: A. Olander – 9; Eck – 5; H. Olander, Feldman – 4; Look – 3; Strecker – 2.
Steals: Eck – 10; A. Olander – 2; Feldman, Look, Strecker – 1.
Blocked Shots: Feldman – 2; Eck – 1.
LADY EAGLES INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:
Scoring: Ryland Hawkinson – 11; Julia Allen – 8; Allie Stone – 6; Macy Reiff – 5; Addison Swenson – 3; Raegan Hawkinson – 2; Alexus Swenson – 2; Grace Prescott – 2.
3-Pointers Made: Ry. Hawkinson, Ad. Swenson – 1.
Assists: Ry. Hawkinson – 4; Stone – 3; Allen, Al. Swenson, Prescott – 1.
Rebounds: Ry. Hawkinson – 9; Allen – 4; six with – 1.
Steals: Ry. Hawkinson, Stone – 3; Allen – 2; Ad. Swenson, M. Reiff, L. Reiff – 1
(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)