EATON — Eaton’s girls’ basketball team ran into a pair of teams last week who found their shooting touch at the wrong time for the Eagles.
The Eagles couldn’t match Madison and Franklin’s touch and suffered a pair of setbacks, falling to the Mohawks (64-45) on Thursday, Feb. 1 and losing to the Wildcats (60-45) on Saturday.
Madison shot 57 percent from the field, while the Wildcats knocked down nearly 43 percent of their shots. Eaton, on the other hand, made just 29 percent against Madison and 31 percent at Franklin.
Thursday’s game marked the final home game for Eaton seniors Bailee Worley, Kurstin Frost and Ashton Staight, who were honored in a ceremony prior to the game.
“This week we ran into a couple of hot shooting opponents. On Thursday we played Madison on senior night. They can be a streaky shooting team, and all four of their shooters were on,” Eaton coach Dave Honhart said. “It was disappointing to lose, but it was great to see Kurstin Frost score a career high 13 points, including three 3-pointers. She has worked so hard throughout her career and to see it pay off in her final home game was special. Our underclassmen, parents and administrative team did a great job of putting together the pre-game ceremony and post-game reception to honor seniors Bailee Worley, Ashton Staight and Kurstin Frost. It was great to see a big crowd on hand. I wish we could have come up with the win, but give Madison credit. They played well, shot well and deserved to win.”
After Frost made the opening shot, a three-pointer from the left corner, the Mohawks took control of the game. The visitors went on an 11-3 run over the next four minutes and never looked back.
Madison led 20-11 after the first quarter and took a 32-18 lead at halftime. Madison led by as many as 29 midway through the fourth quarter (62-33).
Sophomore Bailey Shepherd led Eaton with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Frost finished with 13 and junior Emily Dungan added seven points and seven rebounds.
Against Franklin, Eaton got off to a slow start, falling behind 12-3 midway through the first quarter and trailed 19-11 after the first quarter. The Wildcats led 27-19 at halftime and the Eagles trimmed the lead to 31-25 early in the third quarter, before the home team went on a 14-0 run to take control of the game with a 45-25 lead.
After falling behind by 24 early in the fourth (51-27), the Eagles rallied to get within 56-44 with just over a minute left in the game.
“We went to Franklin with the goal of slowing down their superstar, Layne Ferrell and making other players make shots. Early on we had Ferrell under control, but her teammates were knocking down 3-pointers, so we eventually had to change defenses,” Honhart said. “In the second half, Ferrell got going. She’s been averaging almost 30 points per game throughout the second half the season. She is so difficult to guard in transition and around the rim. She has really improved as a 3-point shooter and passer. They will be a tough team to beat in playoffs. For us, we honestly played pretty well. We just got beat by a better team. Becca Mowen had a career-high 4 assists, and Bailee Worley had a season-high 12 points.”
Eaton had three players score in double figure. Shepherd had 14 points, six rebounds and five steals. Worley added 12 points and Dungan tossed in 10. In addition to her four assists, Mowen led the team with nine rebounds.
Eaton (6-13, 2-9 SWBL) was scheduled to play at Northmont on Monday, Feb. 5 and will travel to Bellbrook on Thursday. The Eagles will close out the regular season with a trip to National Trail on Saturday. The junior varsity game is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
