Lady Eagles Continue Tough Schedule

In action over the holidays the O'Neill Lady Eagles went 0-2 in the Stanton Holiday Tournament, losing to West Holt 34-43 and Madison 31-38. Both of these games found the Eagles only trailing by two points late in the third quarters, but they couldn't make enough plays in the fourth to take the advantage. 

"I am proud of the girls for playing good defense in both of the games and fighting to the end of each game.  Offensively we had a few too many turnovers and we missed a lot of easy buckets in both of those games, that makes each outcome different. We need to continue to work hard on the offensive end and we continue to get better each week," said Coach Eichelberger.

Crofton came to O'Neill Friday, Jan. 3, and the Eagles hit a "buzz saw," getting defeated 15-75. Crofton is a very talented team that won the Class C2 championship a year ago.  The Eagles were minus two starters,  both ball handlers for this contest and it hurt them bringing the ball up the court, their half court offense, as well as overall team chemistry. "This is one we need to move on from and get ready for a busy month of January with a lot of conference games, including the tournament at the end of the month," said Coach Eichelberger.

The Eagles dropped two tough games last week to Boone Central and Elgin/Elgin Pope John. "We got off to a very tough start against a very tough Boone Central team and never was able to recover," commented Coach Eichelberger. The second half the Eagles were able to move the ball offensively and were able to run some effective sets. 

Leading the Eagles were: Sarah Devall with 10 points and four steals; Natalie Broderson four points and five rebounds; Shelby Heiser three points and two steals; Breanna Jakubowski two points and three rebounds and Catrina Spangler with two points and three rebounds.

The second game that the Eagles dropped last week was to the EPPJ Wolfpack. The Eagles played pretty tough on defense, especially early on, but had a very tough time scoring enough points. "Turnovers, offensive rebounds and knocking down shots were parts of us not competing.  These are areas that we will need to continue to work on throughout the rest of the season," said Coach Eichelberger. 

Leading the Eagles against the Wolfpack were: Sarah Devall with six points and one rebound; Emily Morrow six points and six rebounds; Natalie Broderson three points and two rebounds and Shelby Heiser two points and one rebound. 

This week the Eagles go to Ainsworth on Thursday and to Creighton on Saturday.