Lady Eagles Basketball Team Handles Higginsville

 

The Holden girls basketball team recorded its first MRVC-East win of the season by defeating the visiting Lady Huskers of Higginsville by the final score of 42-31 Friday, Jan. 23.

After four Lady Eagles provided points in the first period to help Holden take a 12-10 lead after a quarter of play, Holden’s defense held the Lady Huskers scoreless in the second stanza while Holden added 10 points to its advantage for a 22-10 halftime score.

“They like to slash and get in the paint,” said Holden girls basketball coach Todd Shanks. “We kind tried to pack it in a little bit, calling out, communicating on shooters. They’re going to give me gray hairs or heart palpitations sometimes, but they did a really good job tonight just talking with one another, and communicating on their shooters. It made it tough for them.”

Holden extended its lead in the third quarter by posting a 12-10 scoring advantage. Points in the third were provided by Karleigh Tevis, Addy Campbell, Savannah Dilday, and Brionna Johnson.

“We tried a little set rotation there,” said coach Shanks. “I always try to give the five first girls a chance to get acclimated because everybody else kind of gets some JV minutes here and there, so getting them in, getting them acclimated. One of our main goals tonight was running the court. Karl Tevis ran it a little bit, Brionna ran it a little bit, Addy found them, and they were able to capitalize on some of that stuff. It’s really nice to see.”

The 34-20 lead held by the Lady Eagles at the start of the final period allowed Holden to weather an 11-8 advantage scored by Higginsville in the final eight minutes.

All of Holden’s eight points scored in the fourth quarter came on eight-of-eight shooting from the free throw line as Dilday dropped in two charity shots, and Campbell converted six foul shots. Campbell ended the game with 12-of-12 shooting from the free throw line after earlier in the week scoring the 1,000th point of her career on a foul shot in a road game at Richmond.

“I felt like our team stepped up really big tonight,” said Campbell. “I was talking to Savannah in the locker room. I was like, ‘That was an amazing team win.’ I felt like the weight wasn’t all on me. I passed the ball, we passed it around a couple, three times to get a good shot, we make it. That hasn’t been happening for us lately, but I’m glad that we’re kind of meshing better as the season goes along.

“I think Higginsville is a very tough team, and I’m glad that we were able to step up and get our first conference win at home,” continued Campbell. “It was a really nice atmosphere to get it in, and just so proud of this team that we were able to get a win.”

Campbell finished with a game-high 20 points, Tevis scored 10 points, Dilday added 7 points, Lilly Carver scored 3 points, and Johnson scored 2 points.

Season Record And Upcoming Schedule
Following the win against Higginsville, the Holden girls basketball team held an overall record of 3-11, and stood at 1-4 in MRVC-East games.

This week, the Holden girls basketball team plays in the F&C Bank Cougar Classic at Crest Ridge High School. The Lady Eagles were set to face off against University Academy Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 4:30 p.m. in first-round play. Game results were not available at press time. With a first-round win, the Holden girls basketball team would play on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 7:15 p.m. With a first-round loss, Holden would play Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 4:30 p.m. Final round games in the tournament are scheduled to be played Friday, Jan. 30, and Saturday, Jan. 31.