EATON — After opening the season with a pair of wins, Eaton’s girls’ basketball team met up with two teams expecting to challenge for league titles and make deep tournament runs.
The Eagles were up to the challenge for the most part, but ultimately came up short in both games, falling 53-39 to Bellbrook, at home, on Monday, Nov. 29, and dropping a 57-50 contest at Waynesville on Thursday, Dec. 2.
“It was a frustrating week in terms of results, but a really good week in terms of facing strong competition,” Eaton coach Dave Honhart said. “I think everyone is learning quickly this season that there are a lot of good teams out there, and I believe we are one of them. It’s going to be interesting to see who is able to improve the most and the quickest.”
Eaton held a 25-24 lead over Bellbrook at half, but a slow start in the third quarter proved costly. Bellbrook outscored Eaton 16-7 in the quarter.
It was a similar situation against the Spartans. Eaton was outscored 21-12 in the second quarter, but battled back to get within two points late in the third quarter.
“Obviously we hate to lose, but the reality is we showed we can compete with two very good teams in Bellbrook and Waynesville,” Honhart said. “Now the key is getting over the hump and winning games like that. In order to do that, we’ve got to fix some little things on defense, and get back to who we are on offense. We want to race the ball and look to score in transition if we can create easy baskets. If we can’t, we want to work the ball, get reversals, paint touches, break their defense down and get good looks. The last couple games, we’ve rushed and forced shots earlier in our half court offense than we needed to. We want to play quick, but we don’t want to rush. There is a difference. We want to make it a fast game, but always play with control.”
Against Bellbrook, junior Lily Shepherd led the Eaton with 16 points and three rebounds. Junior Olivia Baumann added 14 points, six rebounds and three steals.
Senior Allison Mowen added six rebounds and three steals. Senior Anna Kramer and freshman Olivia Orr each added four points.
Against Waynesville, Shepherd led the way with 18 points. Baumann tossed in 13 to go along with 14 rebounds. Mowen three points, three rebounds and seven assists.
Kramer finished with nine points and four rebounds. Orr contributed four points and six rebounds.
“We had a phenomenal practice on Friday, and this weekend gave us a chance to have back to back days off and rest our legs,” Honhart said. “This team has great chemistry, strong leadership, and I’m excited to see how much we can grow and develop.”
Eaton (2-2, 1-2 SWBL) is scheduled to host Madison on Thursday, Dec. 9 and Brookville on Saturday, Dec. 11.
“This week we play Madison and Brookville. Our games with Madison over the last few seasons have all been great games. It looks like two pretty evenly matched teams,” Honhart said. “Ella Campbell and Kylie Wells are both tough to guard and great competitors. Brookville looks improved, starting with Malerie Ross. They are always well coached and have often managed the keep the score of our games in the 30’s. We’ll definitely be trying to speed them up.”
