A win over East Webster has been hard to come by for the Eupora Eagles in the last few years but this team left Cumberland last Friday satisfied.
After winning 11-straight games in the series and 15 of 18 from 2012 to 2017, the Eagles hadn’t beaten the Wolverines since 2017. They came out focused and ready to work and they held on to win a 46-44 game to move to 2-8 on the year and 1-1 in Class 2A, Region 2.
Perron Hill hit a clutch 3-pointer to tie the game with 30 seconds left and free throws won it in the last two possessions. Parrish Daniels scored 15 points to lead the way while Tijuan Hughes and Zak Morris scored 12 points. Coach Ross Robinson is proud of his team’s progress and the rivalry win, but he needs more.
“We have to continue to chip away,” Robinson said. “Even though we won this games, there’s things that we have to continue to get better at.”
Leading 41-36 with 3 minutes remaining, Eupora began letting that lead slip away. EWHS made it 44-41 with 1 minute left after two free throws by Reid Gatlin and a layup by Chandler Hodges. But Hill came down and nailed a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to tie the game and a stop on the other end and two more free throws gave the Eagles the win.
It was a nice bounce back win for the Eagles after their Tuesday ball game at Calhoun City. The favorite to win the division this year, the Wildcats rolled in 80-29 fashion. CCHS allowed Eupora to score just one point in the first quarter and that was all they needed. Mark Pass scored a team high seven points.
“We beat ourselves,” Robinson said of the game against the Wildcats. “Calhoun City likes to press and we beat the press but when we got to the goal we missed layups. It was just turnovers and being nervous.”
The Eagles remain in the playoff hunt despite just two wins and they can continue to make a push for that spot by year’s end. They come home on Tuesday and play Bruce (4-14) and will play J.Z. George (5-15) on Friday night also at home.
The win over the rival should be a needed boost.
“I’m hoping that it shows us that what we’ve been doing is not a waste of time,” Robinson said. “Stay with the process, stay with the program, continue to do the things we’re doing and good things will happen.”
GIRLS
Going up against the two favorites for the district crown last week, Eupora’s girls had to take two losses on the chin.
It began at Calhoun City where they dropped a 69-19 decision. They scored single digits in every quarter and CCHS had a 50-9 lead at the half. M’Nyjah Young scored 10 points as only three players got in the scoring column for the Lady Eagles.
It was more of the same on Friday night at EWHS where the Lady Wolverines rolled in a 60-14 game. It was much of the same on both sides of the ball as the Lady Wolverines were simply more talented, more experienced and deeper.
It was Young again leading the way as she scored nine of the team’s 14 points.
“They play really aggressive on defense and we have two girls playing point guard that have never played there in their lives,” Eupora coach Jonathan Childs said of playing against the Lady Wolverines. “We’ve just got to keep learning.”
There were no two better teams to learn from in the district than CCHS and EWHS and the Lady Eagles had them right out of the gates. Now Childs is hoping that some positives can be taken away from those games before they play Bruce and J.Z. George this weekend at home.
“We’re not going to play any better pressure than what we faced,” Childs said. “I told the girls that it’s a horse race and at the halfway point it doesn’t matter what’s gone on beforehand, it’s who is going to work the hardest all the way to the end. We’ve got two games we can go win and have a chance to get third place which is automatically in the playoffs.”
