Wins have been hard to come by this season for Eupora’s basketball team but the Eagles won the right games in the regular season to get the No. 2 seed in the Class 2A, Region 2 tournament.
That second seed earned Eupora a bye in the first round of the tournament held on the east side of the county at East Webster and they were automatically in the semifinals. To get a chance at the championship, though, they were going to go through a JZ George team that was back to full numbers after they had beaten them earlier in the year.
Eupora knocked off the Jaguars in the regular season with JZ George being without three starters. Those three were back for the tournament and it was a much different game as they knocked off Eupora 69-40 on Thursday night.
The Eagles led the ball game 8-0 before things unraveled. JZ George went on a 16-2 run to lead 16-10 after the first quarter and the lead continued to be pushed out as the game continued.
After losing that ball game, Eupora went head-to-head against East Webster for the third time this season. The two teams split in the regular season but the Eagles won the lone district game between Wolverines and Eagles.
EWHS would win the war between the two as they led most of the ball game and eventually took home the 53-37 win to earn third place in the district. Tijuan Hughes and Mark Pass had 10 points each in the consolation game that dropped their season record too 4-17.
“I guess they’re just satisfied with what they’ve accomplished so far. It’s a new season and they’re not playing to their capabilities,” head coach Ross Robinson said. “We’ve got to focus more on the team and doing what it takes to win. I’ve got a team where none of them have really played before and I guess they’re just happy to be playing.”
Eupora’s season is still alive, however. They went on the road Tuesday night to play South Delta in a game that finished after press time. If they were to have won that ball game, they would play the winner of Potts Camp and Leland on Saturday.
GIRLS
A frustrating year came to an end on Tuesday night the way that most of the games did for Eupora with the Lady Eagles fighting until the end. JZ George finished out the Lady Eagles’ season in the first round of the Region 2 tournament with a 52-39 victory.
It has been far from a fun experience for Eupora as they finished the year 1-21, but Jonathan Childs never saw his young team quit this year. After falling behind by 11 points in the third quarter to J.Z. George in the opening game of the Region 2 tournament, the Lady Eagles made one last run to cut the game to 30-27 by the end of the third quarter but they couldn’t make the final push to get the win.
“We’ve been in those type of situations all year and have been able to battle back from time to time. I told them that we just needed to get a couple of stops and a couple of shots made and we’ll be fine. Things went the way it went,” Childs said.
Eupora went down 7-0 to begin the game which got them in a hole early but they battled to close the lead to 9-8. They would trail 20-16 at the half. In the fourth quarter, the Jaguars got the work done on both ends as they finished with 22 points in the last 8 minutes to move on to the semifinals of the district tourney.
As she has been all season, M’Nyjah Young was the bright spot for the Lady Eagles. The junior led the way once again for Eupora with her 16 points. It capped off a huge junior year for Young who was the Lady Eagles constant force in her first year of a leadership role. It gives Childs one major piece to build on for next season after having no seniors this year.
“She’s going to do what she does. She’s going to get in the gym and do the little things. She’s progressed more than anybody,” Childs said of Young. “Last year she scored a little over three points a game and I think she shot five free throws the whole season. This year she shot over 150 free throws and she averaged 13 or 14 a game. She’s going to get better.”
