The Eagles girls basketball team led Fatima throughout the game, but found themselves in a 31-31 tie with 4:14 left in the championship game at Saturday’s Southern Boone Classic.
To win it, they returned to a familiar tactic on one side of the court and an emerging scorer on the other end.
SoBoCo buckled down on defense and got three consecutive stops – including a spectacular leaping steal by Skyler Beeson – and sophomore Carrie Ponder hit three straight baskets to lead the Eagles to a 45-34 win.
Carrie Ponder, led the Eagles team in the girls championship win on Saturday night.
“I challenged them to get three stops and three scores, and that’s what they did,” said Eagles coach Tony Phillips.
The Eagles won the Classic title for the second straight year. It is also the second tournament the SoBoCo girls have won – including the Tri-County Conference Tournament.
Phillips was not surprised Ponder got the ball in the final minutes – and he was not surprised she scored.
“This team believes in Carrie,” Phillips said, “they see her shoot every day in practice and she can flat shoot it.”
Ponder led the Eagles with 14 points, Kylie Shoot scored 12 points and Beeson had six points – including a pair of key free throws in the games final minutes.
Ponder scored the game’s first 5 points with a 3-pointer and a short jump shot. Along with a pair of Comets turnovers, a 3-pointer by Shoot and a Meagan Barnett layup, the Eagles sped to a quick 10-0 lead.
~ Get the rest of the story in today’s Journal ~
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