By Staff
CENTRE – On Friday evening the Elyria Christian girls went on the road and earned their seventh win in a row as they pounded Centra, winning by 27, 43-16.
Now 8-2 on the season, the Lady Eagles will return next week to Centre to participate in the Centre Classic Mid-Season Tournament where both the Lady Eagles and the Eagle boys are the number one seeds.
“Our girls played solid defense tonight,” pointed out Lady Eagle head coach Greg Fields. “Centre is young, but they have a couple of post players that are going to be really good at facing the basket and getting a move to get around defenders. We fouled a little too much in the first half, but we settled in to playing more with our feet and avoiding the fouls in the second half.”
Elyria jumped out to a 13-point, 18-5 advantage by the end of the first quarter and when the teams headed to the halftime break they were up by 24, 32-8. Without even scoring in the final quarter, the Lady Eagles were able to add a few points to their lead as they finished the game with the 27-point victory.
The Lady Eagles dominated in the paint, grabbing 24 rebounds to just 11 total for Centre. On offense it was team game as Elyria recorded 16 assists on a total of 18 made field goals from the field.
Leading the way for Elyria was Ryland Hawkinson who scored 12 points while pulling down a team high six rebounds and making three blocks. Both Allie Stone and Alexus Swenson chipped in with eight points as they both connected on a pair of three-pointers.
Talking about some of the youngsters on the roster, coach Fields concluded his post-game reflections by adding, “We had a couple of our sophomores do a great job tonight with extra playing time. Raegan (Hawkinson) and Alexus (Swenson) both shot the ball extremely well, distributed it to open shooters, and played outstanding defense. Ryland (Hawkinson) did not play much in the second half but she led the way in scoring to open up a big lead in the first half. Both Alexus (Swenson) and Allie (Stone) were very sound in their shooting and defense tonight.”
ELYRIA CHRISTIAN LADY EAGLES at Centre
SCORING: LADY EAGLES > 18-14-11-0= 43; Centre > 5-3-4-4= 16.
TEAM STATS: LADY EAGLES > 2-FGs – 13/26; 3-PTs – 5/15; FTs – 2/6; AST – 16; REBs – 24; TO – 13; STLs – 12; BLKs – 5; FLs – 15. Centre > 2-FGs – 7/22; 3-PTs – 0/0; FTs – 2/9; AST – 0; REBs – 11; TO – 20; STLs – 1; BLKs – 2; FLs – 8.
LADY EAGLE INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS: Scoring > Ryland Hawkinson – 12; Allie Stone – 8; Alexus Swenson – 8; Raegan Hawkinson – 6; Addison Swenson – 5; Julia Allen – 2; Mina Aroum – 1; Macy Reiff – 1. 3-Pointers Made > Stone, Al. Swenson – 2; Ad. Swenson – 1. Assists > Stone, Ra. Hawkinson – 3; Ry. Hawkinson, Ad. Swenson, Reiff, Prescott – 2. Rebounds > Ry. Hawkinson – 6; Ra. Hawkinson – 5; Stone – 3; Aroum, Reiff – 2. Steals > Ry. Hawkinson, Ra. Hawkinson, M. Reiff, Laney Reiff – 2. Blocked Shots > Ry. Hawkinson – 3.
(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)