As the schedule heated up for Eupora this past week against three good basketball programs, the Eagles boys and girls teams had a rough go of things.
Each team went head-to-head with Calhoun City, East Webster and Winona and came away empty handed.
The girls began the week by hosting the Lady Wildcats but the game didn’t count against the Lady Eagles’ Class 2A, Region 2 record. In a game that had a hotly contested first quarter, Eupora couldn’t find a way to replicate that strong start as Calhoun City gained control in the second frame and rolled on to a 60-33 victory.
The game began tied up at 13 after one quarter but the Lady Wildcats stifled Eupora defensively. The Lady Eagles managed to score just three points in the second frame as CCHS put up 20 points of its own and pushed the lead out to 33-16 at the break. Eupora was outscored 27-17 in the final two quarters. Alexia Johnson led the team in the ball game with 15 points.
In a rivalry matchup against the Lady Wolverines, the game played out quite similarly but the scoring didn’t come for the Lady Eagles at all after the first quarter. Eupora trailed just 10-9 in the first quarter and managed only seven points the rest of the ball game as the Lady Wolverines cruised to a 48-16 victory.
The third quarter was the dagger for Eupora as the team couldn’t find a point after trailing 23-11 at the half. Johnson again led the team scoring half of the points with eight in the game. Eupora shot just 16% from the field in the game and the Lady Eagles were 2-of-18 from 3-point range. The team had 33 turnovers that hindered their progress as well.
The Lady Eagles closed out the week on Saturday night by traveling up Highway 82 towards Winona in a much more competitive ball game. A 17-point third quarter gave the Lady Eagles a chance but ultimately they fell in a tough battle to the Lady Tigers, 47-41.
Johnson carried the load for another ball game as she scored 23 points in defeat.
The loss took Eupora’s record to 2-8 ahead of an important week with Region 2 play around the corner. Both teams played on Monday and Tuesday against French Camp and J.Z. George respectively and in games that took place after the story went to print. Eupora will travel to Choctaw County in an area matchup on Friday night with the girls beginning at 6 p.m. and the boys game to follow.
Boys
The same fate found the Eagles in the three contests they had last week as well.
Against Calhoun City, Eupora dropped a 68-36 ball game against the Wildcats. Jay Stevenson led the way with 11 points while Parish Daniels had 10.
Hosting the Wolverines last week, Eupora went down 36-23 at the half and couldn’t recover as the rivals knocked off the Eagles 67-43. Eupora couldn’t hit enough shots in the game to keep up as the Eagles managed to hit just 33% of their shots and 35% from 3-point range where they were 3-for-11.
Eupora was also outrebounded in the game 45-31 and turned the ball over 28 times with 26 points coming off of those turnovers for the Wolverines.
The Eagles did have three players in double figures as Daniels scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and hit all three of the Eagles’ 3-pointers in the game. Tre Johnson and Stevenson each had 10 points and Stevenson had a double-double with 10 rebounds.
Eupora also dropped the final game of the week against Winona 72-39 to fall to 0-7 this season.
