Eads Girls Capture Runner-Up Honors in Holiday Tourney

By Betsy Barnett

December 24, 2004

The Eads girls surprised a lot of people this past weekend at the 41^st Annual Chamber of Commerce Holiday Tournament in Lamar. Their inside game was a surprise as they used one post, freshman Talli Hansen, missing the services of two more posts who did not suit. The guard play of Alyssa Hadley was a surprise as she has improved substantially in one year. And, though Eads is known for their shooting abilities, their outstanding shooting surprised their opponents and the three-ball kept them in a number of games. In fact, the group was a pleasant surprise for head coach Shawn Randel as his sixth-seeded team came out as the tournament runner-ups and had they had their posts and a little more gas in the tank, they may have even surprised the No. 1 ranked and dominating McClave Lady Cardinals. Eads got to the championship game with wins over Springfield in the quarterfinals, 59-37, and Walsh in the semifinals, 41-40. They dropped the coveted tournament trophy to McClave, 53-33, after a dismal final quarter performance.

Eads was the best six-seed the tournament has ever had as they came out strong on the third-seeded Springfield Longhorns who had enjoyed good success in the early part of the season. However, the inside-outside game of the Lady Eagles was too much to defend as Eads’ freshman post, Talli Hansen, controlled the inside with 13 points and found her shooting guards on the outside with Hadley hitting for 16 and senior Morrell Koch adding 18 counters including four long balls. After the first quarter the score was knotted at 10 apiece, however, that would be Springfield’s shining moment as the second quarter on was downhill for the Longhorns who could not defend the Eads weapons. Koch broke the game open in the second quarter with two of her four threes and the Eagles had their chance to get sweet revenge on the Walsh Lady Eagles who had just nipped them in Eads the weekend before in a double-overtime barn-burner.

And revenge they got as Eads managed to control the final half with Hansen and Hadley doing outstanding work against the Walsh intensive man defense. Eads struggled in the first half against the Walsh defense and made a number of mistakes. They also got into a bit of foul trouble and struggled with the Feltzein sisters who are fast guards and outstanding shooters. Coach Randel made some effective offensive adjustments at halftime that opened up the game in the second half for Eads. Working in a triangle with Hadley, Jennie Richards, and Hansen Eads got off some good opportunities resulting in a big third quarter that brought Eads to within one point, 28-27, after three with Koch hitting one of two free throws after being fouled at the buzzer. The intensive play continued into the fourth with the two Eagle teams trading buckets and not gaining an advantage on each other. Eads finally went ahead of Walsh, 32-31, for the first time in the contest when Richards hit a huge three with 2:40 remaining in the contest. That three seemed to take the air out of Walsh as Hansen went to work hitting a bucket at 1:40 that brought Eads in control, 38-33. However, a senior, Mallory Foster, would not go down easily as she took the ball the length of the court and hit a three, bringing Walsh back in the game, 38-36. Eads then called a time out and prepared to stall the ball out. Walsh was forced to foul and they got Hadley at the 1:12 mark. She would hit one of the two freebies bringing Eads up, 39-36. But Walsh wasn’t finished as Aubrey Alley hit a big "J" keeping pace, 39-38. Eads called another time out with: 42 remaining. Again, they would try to hold onto their lead with Hadley, the ball-handler, in charge. Walsh let the clock go for twenty seconds until they were forced to foul Hadley with: 22 seconds remaining. Hadley stepped up huge and hit both charity shots stretching the score to 41-38. Eads let Walsh have a two-pointer, but defended strongly the three-point land. The Walsh group had trouble making the little hoop as they missed and rebounded, using up precious time, four times before they put the ball in the hoop. The Eads group did an outstanding job not fouling under the basket as the ball bounced all over the place. Eads managed to get the ball in with 2.4 seconds left and Hadley controlled things to the buzzer.

The win was bitter-sweet as it forced Eads to face their nemesis, McClave, in the championship game. McClave, last year’s state champions, is still loaded with outstanding athletes and doesn’t miss a beat when they go to their bench. They can go ten strong with no change in the caliber of play on the court. Eads is not so blessed as they use seven players including 5’3 Alysha Uhland at the post when they go to the bench. Eads did everything they could with the manpower they put on the floor and throughout the first half had the entire crowd shaking their head with murmurs of surprise echoing throughout the gymnasium. Hansen, at 6’0, bothered the Cardinal giant, 6’4 Mallory Cline, not allowing her a single bucket throughout the first half. The defense was outstanding for Eads as it kept them in the contest. At halftime Eads was only trailing by six, 18-12. This is an extremely low scoring half for McClave who is used to racking up huge numbers against their opponents as they put full court pressure on at all times. Going into the third quarter Hansen got into some foul trouble and was forced to sit in spurts. When Hansen goes out Eads cannot match up to McClave who puts 6’4, 6’0, and 5’10 on the court. Things started to slip for Eads when Hansen was forced to the sidelines, but they battled valiantly with Hadley hitting two threes and Koch adding two more showing they still had fight in them. Using their outside shooting Eads weathered the storm with Hansen gone, staying within range of the powerful Cardinals, 33-26, after three quarters. But the damn burst in the fourth. Hansen pulled her fifth offense almost immediately and Eads had no answer for both Cline and Shellie LeForce. Richards took on Cline and controlled her well, but was forced to leave LeForce and gave her a green light. Eads had no one that could match to the state champion high jumper as she went off in the fourth quarter hitting for 10 points. By the end Coach Randel was wishing he had some oxygen tanks down on the bench as his players, who were forced to play without a blow, finally hit the wall and were totally gassed. The match up crisis and lack of a breather wore on the Eagles and resulted in a game-blowing 20-7 fourth-quarter run by McClave. Hadley was the only Eads player in double figures with 10 counters, while LeForce and Cline each teamed up for 13 apiece.

Eads now enters the holiday break and none too soon as the break should allow illness and injury to heal for the Eagles who still lack services from posts Destiny Saffer and Allye Batterton. Eads will get another shot at McClave immediately after the break as they travel to the Cardinal nest on January 7^th.