There have been plenty of disruptions and reasons for Eupora to falter on the basketball court this season in girls hoops but the Lady Eagles have put themselves in position to win some games this postseason.
Last year was a big season for the program in Cody Ramer’s first season. The Lady Eagles had a winning record and made the playoffs for the first time in several years and came up just short in the first round against North Side in a 40-38 defeat. While a winning record is not possible at 6-15, it’s still been a productive season to this point as the Lady Eagles head to the Class 2A, Region 4 tournament this week.
“I think chemistry wise we’ve grown this year more than last. We depended on my three seniors last year and Alexia (Johnson), but my big three this year are sophomores. Breaking down film you see great passes that my point guard (Katreyla Pratt) wouldn’t have made last year,” Ramer said. “They’ve played together and grown a lot. We took a huge step back experience wise, but we’ve grown.”
Pratt especially had a big week last week and one of the best games that Ramer has seen her play to date. The sophomore scored a career-high 26 points in a 49-34 win over Choctaw County to close out the regular season and added eight rebounds, eight steals and four assists to it.
Fellow sophomore Johnson had 11 points in the game with six steals and six rebounds as the Lady Eagles finished the regular season strong with a second win this year over the Lady Chargers. That also got the bad taste out of the mouths of the players and their coach from earlier in the week when Eupora dropped a 45-28 ball game at Vardaman.
Next up is another game against the Lady Chargers. In both previous meetings, Eupora won by at least 13 points but this one will be played with high stakes on the line. A win would get the Lady Eagles a matchup with No. 1 seed Calhoun City to try to get into the championship game.
“I think that we can do something good,” Ramer said of the tournament. “We’ve got to take every game how it is. Anything can happen at this point in the season. I think if we can figure out how to play tough for the whole game, we’ll be in good shape against some of the best teams.”
Most importantly, Tuesday night’s 7 p.m. tip provides a chance to get in the playoffs for a second-straight season. The Lady Eagles haven’t been able to do that every year of late but Ramer has a chance to get his team some more confidence moving forward by booking that trip.
The sophomore class got a taste last season as contributors, but this year has been a whole different experience. This year’s team has a chance to hang its own hat on a season.
“It would be awesome just to be able to go back in the playoffs and show we’ve grown as a team. It would be huge for the sophomores and the whole team in general,” Ramer said. “This year we’ll be able to say that we did this as sophomores and freshmen and that’s ownership for them. We haven’t won as many games, but I think playing the tougher schools is only helping us more than hurting us.”
Boys
The Eagles fell to 1-21 last week after dropping a 59-49 game to Vardaman and a 63-48 defeat to Choctaw County. Jay Stevenson led the team in scoring against the Rams with 17 points but there weren’t reported scores on the game against the Chargers.
The season is on the line for Eupora in game one of the district tournament that was played on Tuesday night. The Eagles were matched up with JZ George at 5:30 at Ty Cobb Gymnasium in Ackerman. The Jaguars won the first meeting 67-48 back on January 14.
If Eupora can get the win, they’ll play Bruce on Thursday night.
