As the regular season winds down, first year Eupora girls basketball coach Cody Ramer is continuing to distance the Lady Eagles from the season that they had a year ago.
Eupora won just one game all year in 2019-20 but Ramer has gotten the team to eight winsthis season. That eighth was accomplished on Friday night as Eupora jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter against Winona and never looked back on the way to a 44-25 victory.
Ramer has played young players all season but his team got even younger in the game as he was playing without senior M’Nyjah Young. Several freshmen had to play key minutes as usual and came through in the win.
“I just told my girls that we were going to have to put pressure on them and we were able to get a good comfortable lead,” Ramer said. “I had (Young) out with an injury and a freshman starting at point guard. She didn’t score a lot but she did a lot of things that freshmen don’t normally do.”
Freshman Alexia Johnson led the was with 15 points in the game and Arterria Hill finished with 10 points.
The Lady Eagles came out strong in the first quarter as they jumped out to a 12-2 lead but the second quarter saw things tighten up at 20-12 as the Lady Tigers began to knock down some long range jumpers. As the lead shrunk down to 22-18midway through the third quarter, Eupora began to step on the gas and a 9-0 run would push the lead out to double digits. It was 31-19 after three quarters and that was enough to seal the deal.
Eupora started the week with a couple of losses as Houston beat them 62-42. Johnson had 18 points and Hill had 16 points in the loss. The Lady Eagles also played a game against Calhoun City in a non-district contest and lost.
The victory over Winona to end the week, though, improved the Lady Eagles’ record to 8-7 overall and they go into next Thursday’s game against J.Z. George at 1-2in Class 2A Region 2 play with a chance to grab the No. 3 seed in the district tournament.
Awin in the season finale will also get the Lady Eagles closer to a winning record being locked up for the season.
“I know that was something going in that was not expected but my goal was to get to the playoffs and have a winning record,” Ramer said. “We’re one game away from making those goals.”
Boys
Ramer was also in his first week as the boys coach this week as he became the third different person to lead the program this season. Ross Robinson stepped down as head coach earlier in the season and Drew Gray was the coach for a couple of games before giving way to Ramer.
Eupora lost to Houston 70-14, to Calhoun City by an unreported score and finished out the week falling 50-19 to Winona as they remain winless on the year at 0-9 and0-3 in Class 2A, Region 2 play.
“We had one practice before Calhoun City and had a tough time there. Most players would put their heads down but these guys are fighting. I think they went out there and competed hard and I’m proud of them for that,” Ramer said. “I think once they get it, we’re going to be alright. Whoever is over them next season, they have a good group of guys to work with.”
The Eagles will try to avoid a winless regular season when they finish things outagainst J.Z. George.
