NEW CARLISLE — For Dave Honhart there were several keys to his Eaton girls’ basketball team winning its fourth straight sectional title.
A fast start. A strong finish and a key shot to regain momentum are just a few as the seventh-seeded Eagles bounced No. 5 seed Urbana out of the Division II sectional with a 68-53 win on Tuesday, Feb. 15 at Tecumseh High School.
Eaton, now 11-13, was scheduled to meet top-seed Carroll in the district semifinal on Monday, Feb. 21, with a chance to advance to the district final for the first time in program history.
“We always talk about starting fast and finishing strong. That’s exactly what we did. When we got rolling in the first half, that was probably the best stretch of basketball we have played this year,” Honhart said. “For that to be happening at playoff time is just a testament to this team and how hard they’ve worked at jelling and becoming truly connected on the court. Putting up 40 points in the first 12 minutes against an awfully good team was impressive, especially when you consider, we’ve had plenty of games this season where reaching 40 was quite the struggle.”
After falling behind 6-5 a few minutes into the game, Eaton rolled to 17 straight points and a 22-6 lead. The Eagles led 25-10 after the first quarter thanks in part to shooting 10-for-22 from field, including going 5-of-11 from 3-point range.
Eaton upped its lead to 40-18 with just over two minutes left in the half, but the Hillclimbers, who entered the game with 15 wins, closed the gap to 40-25 by halftime.
Eaton still led by 13 (48-35) with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, but a 9-0 run by the Hillclimbers made it a 48-44 game, with under five seconds left in the quarter, and seemed to have all the momentum.
“I told the team in the locker room after the game that I think one of the most difficult things in basketball is when you have a big lead on a good team, and they gain momentum and start chipping away,” Honhart said. “Over the last four-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter, Urbana was doing a great job of creating good shots for themselves and knocking them down. Olivia Baumann was on the bench for us in foul trouble and we just seemed out of sorts at both ends.”
It was then, Honhart said, his team made the momentum swinging play.
“The crowd just kept getting louder every time they scored,” he said. “The single most important shot of the game came at the end of the third quarter, after Urbana had cut it to four. Allison Mowen’s hop-back thirty-footer at the buzzer was absolutely clutch and totally flipped momentum. It was the shot in the arm that we needed.”
Junior Lily Shepherd turned in one her best performances of the season and maybe career, scoring a team-high 24 points, dishing out six assists and collecting six steals.
“Lily Shepherd probably had the best game of her career,” Honhart said. “Twenty four points while shooting fifty percent from the field was impressive and she scored in a variety of ways. To me what was impressive was how well-rounded she has become.”
Mowen, who became Eaton’s all-time career assist leader in the game, had 11 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Senior Anna Kramer added 10 points, two rebounds and two assists.
“Anna Kramer knocking down 10 points was also huge for us,” Honhart said. “Anna is a very good shooter, yet the shots haven’t always fallen for her this year. She has embraced her role of playing tough defense and doing all the little things like setting screens, defending bigger players, recovering loose basketballs, etc, along with providing good leadership. She has been vital to the success we’ve had this year, on and off the court, so it was nice to see shots drop for her.”
Junior Olivia Baumann scored 10 points and grabbed 16 rebounds despite picking up her fourth foul early in the third quarter.
“Olivia Baumann is such a difference maker and this game reinforced that,” Honhart said. “When she was out on the floor, Urbana had a much harder time scoring. She gets into passing lanes and provides rim protection on defense. On offense she gives us an inside scoring presence along with being a good passer, ball-handler and perimeter shooter. It was a bit of a gamble putting her back at the start of the fourth quarter, with four fouls, but we needed her and she did a great job of playing with discipline to avoid picking up her fifth foul. Along the way, she snagged 16 rebounds, which is just an incredible number and yet not even one of her top five rebounding totals.”
Freshman Olivia Orr chipped in six points and had two key steals in the fourth quarter.
“Urbana did a great job of competing in the fourth quarter. They are a very good team and we knew they would not go away,” Honhart said. “We had a really nice stretch in the middle of the quarter where Lily Shepherd created two nice buckets for herself and found Kendall Miller open on a cross court pass for a three-pointer that she knocked down. That stretch followed a really nice drive and score by Olivia Orr after Urbana had pulled within five again. Collectively we got stops and knocked down free throws at the end to seal the win and our fourth straight sectional championship. Overall, to flip momentum back the way we did and regain control of this game simply speaks to the character and leadership of this team. It was a gritty-gutty fourth quarter and a win we should be very proud of.”
With her third assist in the first quarter, Mowen surpassed Autumn Whirley as the program’s all-time assist leader.
“When you talk about the names of great players in Eaton Basketball history, Autumn Whirley is way up there. She scored over 1,300 points and had 332 assists. She defined the idea of an unselfish scorer,” Honhart said. “Ali has always had the unselfish part down — at times she has been too willing to pass the ball. As she has developed into someone who looks for her own shot as well as spoon-feeding assists to her teammates, it has only made her harder to guard. I love that on the night she broke the record, it is a shot that she hit that everyone will probably remember, even more than the assists. I feel very lucky to have coached Autumn her senior year, and Ali for all four of hers. As Eaton’s new All-time assist leader, Ali now enters the conversation as one of the best and most accomplished players to play for Eaton. What I love the most about Ali, however, is that the win meant far more to her than the record.”
Honhart noted the current senior class is believed to be the only in program history to win four sectional titles and at least two tournament games all four years.
“With the win, I believe Ali Mowen, Anna Kramer, Juli Couch and Kyla Mize become the first players to win four straight sectional titles as Eaton Lady Eagles. You couldn’t ask for a classier, more deserving group of players to accomplish that feat for the first time,” he said.
The Eagles will have a tough assignment against Carroll.
The Patriots defeated the Eagles 66-39 back on Dec. 29, 2021.
“It should be a good game,” Honhart said. “We played them down to the wire at our place last year. They controlled the game at their place a couple months ago. We are looking forward to showing that we have improved and we are ready to compete with them.”
