NEW PARIS — National Trail’s girls’ basketball team suffered a pair of defeats last week.
After a strong start against visiting Preble Shawnee, the Blazers went cold and suffered a 64-35 loss on Tuesday, Jan. 23. On Thursday, Trail lost a heartbreaker to Bethel, 47-46, with the Bees scoring the game-winner in the final seconds.
Trail (5-10, 2-7 CCC) has now lost five straight heading into the final two weeks of the season.
Against Preble Shawnee, the Blazers held a 14-13 lead, before the Arrows made a shot at the buzzer.
From there, Trail struggled offensively, scoring just four points in the second quarter as Shawnee extended its lead to 30-18 at halftime.
The Blazers were behind 49-29 after three.
”Despite the score our girls played hard and left everything on the floor. We just couldn’t get the shots to drop after a good shooting first quarter,” Trail coach Michael Paige said.
Leading the for the Blazers was Makena Laird with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Savanna Abner added 11 points and three assists.
On Thursday, a basket by Evan Byrd with seven seconds left looked to be the game-winner for Trail, but the Bees escaped with the win.
Laird led the way with 18 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and five steals and Byrd finished with 14 points.
Trail was scheduled to play at Dayton Christian on Tuesday, Jan. 30 and will visit Covington on Thursday. The Blazers will close out the week with a trip to Tri-County North for a 5:30 p.m. tip.
