Eagles struggle in final games

This archived article was written by: Katie James

The Eagles ended the regular season 1-3, and head to Twin Falls Thursday in a rematch against Snow College. They played hard games against Salt Lake Community College, Snow College, College of Southern Idaho and North Idaho College.
SLCC came into Eagle territory Feb. 18. “I thought we played pretty well,” said Coach Paur. There first half started with quick jumper by Priscila Santos. Both teams battle back and forth for a lead with only six minutes left in the half. SLCC pulled ahead to end the half 31-25.
During the second half, the Eagles came within five, but never gained an advantage. SLCC outscored the Eagles in the second half by only three, 44-41. Ending the game with SLC 75-66. “Salt Lake seemed more motivated. They won a lot of games in a row. We had our chances, but they played better than we did,” said Paur. Santos and Bruna Deichmann contributed 28 and 15 to the Eagles’ score.
On Sat. 19, the Eagles took on Snow College. The Eagles were bound and determined to get a win from Snow. The Eagles took an early lead and held on. The ladies went into halftime with 36-24 lead.
After the first half, Snow was no match for the Eagles. They stayed about 10 points behind the whole second half. Despite being behind from the beginning, Snow outscored the Eagles in the second half by one 38-37. However, the Eagles early start gave them a 73-62 victory. “It was better than the Salt Lake game, we played earlier in the season. It’s the best we played all year,” said Paur. Santos had 23 with Deichmann produced 18 points. Daiana Ferreria had four of the teams five blocks. Paur said, “We played hard and shot well. Good win to finish season.”
The Eagles took a trip up to Twin Falls to take on CSI last weekend. Paur said, “We were given many chances that we didn’t take.” CSI took a lead in the first five minutes, but the Eagles caught up. Eagles stayed tight with CSI until the last three minutes of the first half. CIS lead 37-32. Three minutes into the second half, the Eagles struggled and got down by 10.
“In the first minute of the second half, we had three turnovers, and got down by eight or ten. The scored continued that way,” said Paur. The Eagles tried, but could not come close enough. The game ended with a CSI win, 82-72. “We played a good game, but we did not take advantage of the chances and couldn’t finish,” said Paur. Deichmann had 24 points and Santos had 20.
North Idaho was a struggle for the Eagles. Paur said, “North Idaho is one of the top three teams in the country. They are very good. Nobody has ever played them well at NI’s gym. Not even SLCC.” The ladies had trouble playing their usual tough defense. The Eagles were down at half time and struggled to keep up.
“It is hard to go there and play because of the long travel. It’s very hard to get a win up there. Especially as good as they are,” said Paur. The game ended with a Cardinal 82-57 win. Paur said, “We shot 48 percent and they shot 60 percent. Those are not good odds in our favor.” Deichmann and Santos had 25 and 22 points. Ferreria had two solid blocks.
The Lady Eagles head north again this weekend for the Region tournament in Twin Falls, Idaho. “We play Snow 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. I believe if we execute we will win. If CEU wins, we will then play SLCC. We have a good match up with them. We’ve beat them once by 18. If we do what we are supposed to, we beat them and end up in championship game,” Paur said.