The Eupora High School boys and girls basketball seasons came to an end last week in the first round of the Division 2-2A Tournament that was held at East Webster, but hosted by EHS.
The Lady Eagles lost 49-40 to Leflore County while the Eagles dropped a 69-66 decision to Calhoun City in overtime.
Despite the losses, Eupora coach Danya Turner was pleased with the effort his teams gave this season.
“We started the season with 14 boys and ended with eight or nine,” Turner said. “That’s just the way it goes. We had some kids who didn’t end the season with us. I was proud of the kids that finished the season. They played extremely hard. We had five games that we lost by 18 (total) points in the regular season. That’s the way it goes. I’m proud of these guys
“I thought the girls played extremely hard all year. They fought hard all year long and I was extremely proud of them. You could see improvement each and every game.”
Calhoun City boys 69,
Eupora 66
Calhoun City needed overtime as it eliminated the Eagles in the opening round of the Division 2-2A Tournament on Tuesday.
Eupora jumped out to an early 12-3 lead but Calhoun City scored the last 11 points of the period to lead 14-12 at the end of the first. Calhoun stayed hot from the field and outscored Euproa 17-6 in the second to lead 31-18 at the half. Eupora fought back in the second half and outscored Calhoun 18-13 in the third and 24-19 in the fourth to send the game into overtime, where the Wildcats used a 9-6 advantage to take the win.
"We started out real good and jumped out 12-3,” Turner said. “From that moment on to the end of the second quarter, we were in a lull and Calhoun was able to build a pretty good lead. But we played lights out in the second half and got in a grove and started to make some shots. We played some man and that bothered them. We were down 10 with three minutes left and had a couple of big threes by Makaylon Patterson and Jerron Patterson with 10 seconds left to tie it. We then got a turnover and lost the ball with a chance to win. In the overtime, they just hit more shots than we did.”
Makaylon Patterson led Eupora with 27 points while Jerron Patterson added 17 points. Al Dumas added eight points and D.J. Patterson added six points.
Eupora’s Makaylon Patterson was voted as the Division 2-2A Offensive Player of the Year while Jerron Patterson and Al Dumas were voted to the all-division team.
On the girls side, Kyla Patterson was named to the all-division team.
Leflore County girls 49,
Eupora 30
Leflore jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the first period and used their height advantage to take a 19-point win against the Lady Eagles in the first round of the 2-2A Tournament on Tuesday to end Eupora’s season.
After leading 8-1, the Lady Panthers led 19-14 at the half. Leflore pulled away as they outscored Eupora 12-9 in the third and 18-7 in the fourth.
“Leflore was a lot bigger than us and took advantage of it,” Turner said. “We made a run in the second and cut the lead to five. They started to pound the ball inside and pulled away from us and never looked back.”
Jasmine Gary led Eupora with nine points while Princess Carr had eight points and Jasmine Coneley added six points.
