Eagles overcome California with fourth quarter surge

The SoBoCo Eagles girls basketball team used a 19-13 fourth quarter run to overcome a determined California Pintos team for a 53-47 Tri-County Conference win in Ashland on Tuesday.

Unlike their first five games of the season, this was no blowout.

The two teams were tied 34-34 at the end of three periods after the Pintos went on a 10-3 run, but the Eagles pulled ahead early in the final period on layups by Meagan Barnett and Kylie Shoot and a basket underneath by Brooke Trammell. The Pintos pulled ahead 47-46 with 1:35 left in the game, but Barnett scored on another layup and Shoot and Skyler Beeson 5-of-6 from the free throw line in the final minute to put the game away.

The Eagles struggled with their shooting throughout the game, in part due to a tenacious Pintos defense. The visitors limited Beeson’s drives to the hoops, were tightly matchup guarding Shoot all night and, at times, triple-teaming Emma Anderson when she got the ball inside.

Barnett, however, stepped up for the Eagles on the offense and defense. The senior led all scorers with 15 points, had a pair of steals and harassed the Pintos offensive efforts on both sides of the mid-court line.

But the Pintos kept themselves in the game by hitting 6-of-23 3-point shots whereas the Eagles could only connect on 2-of-15 3-pointers. The Eagles also struggled from the foul line, connecting on only 21-of-34 free throws, well below the team’s average last season.

Both teams were hit with unusual fouls – the Pintos had an intentional foul called when a player pulled Riley Scheer to the floor and Eagles coach Tony Phillips was hit with a technical foul for berating officials – however, neither call changed the momentum of the game.

While they had off nights shooting, both Shoot and Beeson scored in double figures – Shoot with 12 and Beeson with 11. Anderson pulled down 14 rebounds for the Eagles.

The Eagles win put them at 6-0 on the season. SoBoCo is off until after Christmas. The Eagles face Bowling Green on Dec. 29 and start the Tri-County Conference tournament on Dec. 30.