Improved Lady Eagles win again

As the regular season winds down, first year Eupora girls basketball coach Cody Ramer is continuing to distance the Lady Eagles from the season that they had a year ago.

Eupora won just one game all year in 2019-20, but Ramer has gotten the team to eight wins this season. That eighth was accomplished on Friday night as Eupora jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter against Winona and never looked back on the way to a 4425 victory.

Ramer has played young players all season, but his team got even younger in the game as he was playing without senior M’nyjah Young. Several freshmen had to play key minutes as usual and came through in the win.

“I just told my girls that we were going to have to put pressure on them and we were able to get a good comfortable lead,” Ramer said. “I had (Young) out with an injury and a freshman starting at point guard. She didn’t score a lot, but she did a lot of things that freshmen don’t normally do.”

Freshman Alexia Johnson led the way with 15 points in the game and Arterria Hill finished with 10 points.

The Lady Eagles came out strong in the first quarter as they jumped out to a 12-2 lead, but the second quarter saw things tighten up at 2012 as the Lady Tigers began to knock down some long range jumpers. As the lead shrunk down to 22-18 midway through the third quarter, Eupora began to step on the gas and a 9-0 run pushed the lead out to double digits. It was 3119 after three quarters and that was enough to seal the deal.

The victory improved the Lady Eagles’ record to 8-7 overall and they go into next Thursday’s game against J.Z. George at 1-2 in Class 2A, Region 2 play with a chance to grab the No. 3 seed in the district tournament.

A win in the season finale will also get the Lady Eagles closer to a winning record being locked up for the season.

“I

know that was something going in that was not expected, but my goal was to get to the playoffs and have a winning record,” Ramer said. “We’re one game away from making those goals.”

Boys Game Winona 50, Eupora 19

In the boys game, the Eagles struggled to score points in the first half and the Tigers dominated the game.

Eupora scored

just two points in the first quarter as the Eagles fell behind 22-2. Winona played backups for most of the second quarter as the lead grew to 34-10 at the break and those backups stayed in during the third quarter before the lead began to shrink down to 18 points.

Winona’s starters finished off the Eagles and earned the win as Eupora dropped to 0-8. It was the second game coached by Ramer as he has taken over the boys team for the rest of the season. Ramer is the third coach for the team this season as Ross Robinson stepped down as head coach earlier in the season and Drew Gray was the coach for a couple of games before giving way to Ramer.

“We had one practice before Calhoun City and had a tough time there,” Ramer said. “Most players would put their heads down, but these guys are fighting. I think they went out there and competed hard and I’m proud of them for that. I think once they get it, we’re going to be alright. Whoever is over them next season, they have a good group of guys to work with.”

The Eagles will try to avoid a winless regular season when they finish things out against J.Z. George.