CARLISLE — Lily Shepherd and Allison Mowen combined to score 31 points as Eaton’s defense held Carlisle 16 points below its season average in the Eagles 37-29 win in an SWBL crossover game on Thursday, Feb. 4.
Next season, the two teams will be in the same division as the league will realign due to four teams leaving the league.
“This is as proud of my players as I’ve been all year. Honestly, after the previous stretch of seven games in thirteen days, many of which were close battles that didn’t go our way, as coaches we were not sure how much the players had left,” Eaton coach Dave Honhart said. “They proved their resiliency and toughness today, in going on the road and beating a good Carlisle team that not only beat us last year, but is near the top of the Buckeye standings. They join our division next year and we wanted to establish that this will be a tough rivalry.”
Eaton used a 22-4 advantage in the second and third quarters to pull away for the win.
Carlisle shot just 9-of-48 from the field, including going 2-of-25 from 3-point range.
“They are a good shooting team, but I thought we did a really good job of executing our defensive game plan to keep them out of rhythm. We got our transition game going which produced some points on run outs,” Honhart said. “Obviously Lily Shepherd and Allison Mowen had big scoring nights, but they both had multiple assists and did a solid job on the boards.”
Even though Shepherd and Mowen did the bulk of the scoring, Eaton got solid performances in other aspects of the game from a variety of players.
“This was a total team win, however. The thing I will remember just as much as the resiliency was the locker room afterward,” Honhart said. “We had a handful of players who are used to scoring some points who didn’t tonight, even though they played well. No one was down or mopey or into themselves. Everyone was just happy that we took care of business as a team.”
In addition to her 17 points, Shepherd added five rebounds and two assists. Mowen had six rebounds and a pair of assists.
Senior Kylee Kidwell tied a career-high with seven rebounds and played solid defense. Senior Alexis Miller pulled down six rebounds, and sophomore Olivia Baumann had five rebounds and two blocked shots. Senior Kylee Pitsinger contributed three points.
”I think the thing that has defined them is their absolute lack of ego and what great teammates they are. This team gets along well, and their approach is a big reason why,” Honhart said of his seniors.
Eaton trailed 11-5 after the first quarter. The Eagles led 13-11 at the half after holding the Indians to 0-for-11 shooting in the second quarter. In the third, Eaton used a 12-0 run to take control of the game, while holding Carlisle to 2-of-11 shooting.
Eaton began the week with a 54-41 league loss to visiting Oakwood. Prior to the game, the Eagles honored its three seniors for their final home game.
“I thought Oakwood looked really sharp. It seemed like anytime Margi Conrath (19 points) got herself open she knocked down shots. Emma Neff (16 points, 11 rebounds) is really becoming a complete player. For her to lead the Southwestern Division in rebounding by 2.0 ahead of her closest competition at only 5’6” is really impressive,” Honhart said. “We just struggled to get much going. I thought we had a nice run to get within two or three late in the third, but then Oakwood did a really nice job of stretching the lead back out over the final two minutes. They did the little things better and they shot the ball better.”
Eaton shot just 31 percent (15-of-48) from the field, while the Jills made good on 40 percent of their shots.
Baumann led Eaton with 11 points, three rebounds and three steals. Mowen tossed in eight points and had four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Junior Anna Kramer and Shepherd each added six points. Kidwell chipped in with four points, four rebounds and three steals and Miller added three points and four rebounds.
Eaton (8-13, 3-9 SWBL) is scheduled to play at Edgewood on Wednesday, Feb. 10 before taking on Bellefontaine in the first round of the Division II sectional tournament on Saturday, Feb. 13. Tip is set for 11 a.m. at Tecumseh High School.
