Last week was a week of growth for the Eupora Lady Eagles basketball team.
Cody Ramer’s squad took a couple of losses on the chin to Houston and Ethel to begin the season. They had another loss last week to the Lady Hiltoppers but Ramer liked what he saw from his team.
“Houston is a pretty good team and we played them pretty well in the first quarter and into the second quarter,” Ramer said. “They have depth and we really don’t right now. They made some substitutions and got some fresh legs and we got gassed.”
The Lady Eagles dropped the first game of the year to Houston 58-29 and this game didn’t see much change in the final outcome of a 67-39 game, but Eupora came out of the gates strong. The team came out on fire with a 20-point first quarter but couldn’t sustain that pace as they scored just 19 points the next three quarters combined.
Alexia Johnson led the way with 22 points while Katrayla Pratt had 15. The two players had nine and 10 points respectively in the first half and carried the load all game as they scored all but two points in the game.
Those two kept it going in the next game, however, against Nanih Waiya. The Lady Warriors have entered Class 2A this season and have always been a competitive program in 1A over the years. Both teams battled back and forth but it was the Lady Eagles who were able to come out victorious in a 58-54 ball game.
The second and fourth quarters told the story for the Lady Eagles as they scored 21 points in the second and closed the game with 18 in the final frame. Eupora was led by Pratt’s 25 points and Johnson’s 20 as the two steady producers got it done again, but they also had a big game from Caleesia Davis who had nine of her 11 points in the first half.
“My point guard and my forward (Pratt and Johnson) have played well but they both played really well in that game,” Ramer said. “We started out flat and had some turnovers and then we came together as a team in the end. The biggest thing is everybody played good defense and showed what we can do.”
The win improved the young Eupora team to 1-3 early in the year and they played Nettleton on Tuesday in a game that happened after press time. They were also scheduled to play Noxapater on Thursday but that game was not certain to take place.
Boys
Just like the girls team, the Eupora boys are taking step by step but it might take a little longer to get in a groove.
It was the first week that new coach Austin Burl was able to have his football players with him on the floor and they did improve upon the previous 83-22 loss to Houston by dropping a 74-33 decision to the Hilltoppers at home. Jay Stevenson led the team in scoring with his 16 points.
On Thursday, there was a much better showing by the Eagles but they came up short again dropping a 53-38 ball game to Nanih Waiya. Stevenson led the way again with 20 points while Parish Daniels and Mark Pittman had nine points each.
