The Eagles headed to Cashion Thursday night (February 2nd) in what would prove to be some good basketball, the start of a run of 6 games in the next 9 days.
LADY EAGLES
The Lady Eagles faced off against the Lady Wildcats in what was a tightly contested matchup if you had excluded the first 3 minutes. In that first 3 minutes of play though, Cashion was extremely hot from three, at one point garnering what I believe was a 15-2 lead, which proved to be the difference. The Wildcats stayed hot from three all night and shot over 50% from beyond the arc. The Eagles showed improvements all around compared to their recent stretch, more conservative with the ball as well as better rebounding, they made a very good effort to come back in the second half and especially with their 12-point 4th quarter, at one point following a Kadee Meeker three had only trailed by 4 scores which seems like a lot but is not the most outlandish of expectations. Unfortunately, though, the Lady Eagles were not able to take a lead against Cashion, despite the efforts of Yuridia Rios, who finished with a team-leading 12 points, and that 15-2 was the exact amount of points they needed to secure the win. Final score Hennessey Lady Eagles 37 – Cashion Lady Wildcats 50
THE EAGLES
The #4 Ranked Eagles had a ranked matchup against the #17 Wildcats according to OSSAA. The first half was incredibly back and forth, with both teams trading shot for shot. Trading 1 and 2-point leads, the first half was led by James Sims, Jael Torres, and Layton Choate who were all having good nights and all are incredibly needed if the boys want to make a run for state. James Sims in particular hit two buzzer-beater shots at the end of the first and second quarters to help the Eagles pull away. They ended the first half with the largest lead of the game to that point, 7. Cashion was unable to keep the game very close in the second half though, the defense slipped and they weren’t as consistent on the offensive side of the ball. The Eagles got a very good game out of their starters, with Jael Torres having 20 points and 7 boards, Layton Choate having 21 points, 6 assists, 3 boards, and 2 steals, and James Sims had 11 points, 5 assists, and 4 boards. Seth Simunek aided with great defense, 6 points, 3 boards, and 2 steals.
The final score was Hennessey Eagles 64 Cashion Wildcats 43.
Story by Taylor Ladwig.