After losing three straight games, coaches Tony Phillips, Jeff Trammell, Chris Jennings and Nick Carlos knew they had to come up with something to snap the Eagles girls basketball team out of its funk.
Eagles senior Kylie Shoot was named the Outstanding Player of Sunday’s MFA Shootout win over Boonville. Shoot had 18 points, 5 assists and was 4-of-8 from the 3-point line.
Something fun.
They found it at the Primary School gym.
The fun they found relaxed the Eagles and they went out and pummeled the Boonville Pirates by a 72-45 score.
After blindfolding the girls and leading them into the small gym where they played when they were in Optimist Youth leagues, their former youth coaches led them in a few fun drills, gave them a chance to laugh and remember why they played the game.
“Our slump was a bunch of little things that were so easy to fix – but having fun and playing loose was another thing,” Shoot said.
“We had that team activity and we had juice boxes and started the day with the mentality of just having fun. It just worked.”
Did it ever.
After losing to Boonville 56-52 in the California Tournament finals, the Eagles were eager to take it to the Pirates.
Leading by 36-28 at halftime, Shoot said the entire Eagles team was expecting a Pirates run.
“We knew that the third quarter was their best quarte, so we were ready,” said Shoot. “We were much better prepared this time.”
~ Get the rest of the story in today’s Journal ~
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