Lady Eagles have successful season
Region 18 of the NJCAA Division-1 Scenic West Conference had a battle of games over weekend of March 3-5th. On March 3, Utah State University Eastern Lady Eagles put up an incredible fight with the Snow College Badgers. The see-saw game ended with the Lady Eagles’ down 63-59.
This archived article was written by: Katie James Bigelow
Region 18 of the NJCAA Division-1 Scenic West Conference had a battle of games over weekend of March 3-5th. On March 3, Utah State University Eastern Lady Eagles put up an incredible fight with the Snow College Badgers. The see-saw game ended with the Lady Eagles’ down 63-59.
Head Coach, Dave Paur said, “It was disappointing, I thought we were going to win. If anyone wanted to see a good basketball game, it was the game to watch.” The lead score was constantly changing possession. By halftime the Eagles led by five. “We were ahead by five at the half. Threes can break a team and they hit a few. The lead changed seven times in the last 10 minutes so it was a great game. Anybody could have won it,” said Paur.
Defense Coordinator, Dan Allen, said, “Our defense was solid through most of the game with the exception of the last few minutes. I thought that we got tired and missed some key shots when the game was on the line.”
Paur said, “They hit a couple and we hit a couple. We had the last possession and didn’t hit our shots. We truly thought we could win and didn’t.” With 15-seconds left on the clock, the Eagles had the possession. Coach Paur called a time out and Offensive Coordinator, Adjalma Becheli, [Coach Vando] put in a special play. It came to crunch time. A missed shot allowed Snow to get the rebound. In attempt to get the ball, the Eagles fouled. Snow went down and made two-foul shots putting them up by five in the last few seconds.
“We held Snow to 63 points, which was well below their average, but we did not stop them at the end of the game. The energy level that cost us on defense also hurt our offense in the second half,” said Allen.
Paur added, “The next night, Snow went out and almost won in the last few seconds against Salt Lake Community College but lost with a couple of seconds left.”
The Region 18 Champion was North Idaho. “I think that North Idaho was the best team in our league, so I was pleased to have them win the tournament and represent us at the nationals,” said Paur.
