Eads Girls Lose Holiday Tournament Crown to McClave, 43-30
January 10, 2003
The two-time Lamar Holiday Tournament champions, the Lady Eagles, lost their crown on Saturday night in Lamar in front of a full house losing to a deep McClave Cardinals team, 43-30, and staining their untarnished overall record to 5-1 going into the holiday break.
Eads got to their third holiday championship game with convincing wins in the quarter- and semifinal rounds. On Thursday morning they would open up the 39th annual tournament by handily beating the Holly Wildcats, 59-29.
Friday’s semifinal game was physically hard on the Eagles, who lacked depth off the bench, when they took care of a physical and good Walsh team, 62-50. The win put them on a collision course with the No. 1 ranked team in the state, McClave.
Depth was the difference in the game as McClave is loaded with a number of players who continued to keep intense defensive pressure on the Eagles throughout four solid quarters of ball. However, the big difference came in the face of foul trouble as senior Treva Richardson drew her third foul in the first quarter and was forced to sit the bench for much of the game. Richardson, who is key for the Eagles on both sides of the court, would ultimately foul out midway through the fourth quarter. With Richardson on the bench, Eads lost a large amount of their offensive punch and the other players were forced into positions they were not used to playing.
The Eagles would battle strongly for two quarters, despite having Richardson on the bench, when they would lead after one quarter, 11-10, and trail by three, after a McClave bucket at the buzzer, 22-19. But it was the third quarter that undid Eads as Richardson pulled her fourth foul early and McClave pushed the ball hard on the transition. Coach Shawn Randel pointed out that the game was lost in the third quarter as McClave’s depth forced Eads to run out of gas. McClave would outscore Eads 11-7 in that quarter and then continued the intensive pressure going into the fourth. However, early in the fourth Richardson would get a steal and the harm and the charm on the lay-up and it looked like Eads might be able to rebound out of the dismal third quarter performance. But in the next minute she pulled her fifth foul and senior wing Tiffanie Gooden was forced to run the ball at point, taking her out of scoring position in the last minutes of the game, resulting in only six points from her, way below her season double-digit average.
Only post Darci Weeks would get into double figures for Eads as she contributed nearly half of their points with 12 counters. Defensively, Jessica Watts did an outstanding job on the Cardinal’s dangerous post, LaNae Goble, holding Goble to two points.
The Cardinal’s depth was impressive as all twelve players contributed defensively and eight players would tally in the scoring column.
Sophomore Shelly LeForce was particularly damaging to the Eagles, primarily on the three point arc, as she hit two threes to lead the Cardinals with 11 points.
After the holiday break the Lady Eagles will be faced with McClave right away in the league contest hosted by McClave on Friday, January 10. They will then host 2A’s Crowley County on Saturday night, January 11.