by Sydney Booth
What Happened: The Lady Reds (12-1 Patriot, 14-1 overall) overpowered the Brush Beetdiggers (8-5 Patriot, 9-5 overall) on their home court Friday, Feb. 5. It was senior night, and for ten varsity players, this was their last time playing on their home court. However, the Reds came out flat, allowing Brush to plow ahead and temporarily own the game. The Reds, undaunted, pushed ahead in the next three quarters.
By the Numbers: Brush outscored and outplayed Eaton in the first quarter with a score of 4-18. Clearly unhappy with their performance, the Reds started picking up the momentum in the second quarter with three pointers and from Lindy Dixon (16) and Bailey Schumacher (16). With 1:38 left in the second, free throws from Caiden Rexius (16) put the Reds up 27 to 25. At halftime, the score was 30-29 in favor of the Reds.The next half was full of outstanding defense and a more calm offense from the Reds. Brush was only good for one shot out of 17 in the fourth quarter, while Eaton scored 17 points. The Reds decreased the amount of points Brush scored each quarter, eventually shutting them down. Brush managed to score 20 in the first, then nine, eight, and only three points in the fourth quarter. The final score for the game was 59-40 Eaton.
Should’ve Seen It: The whole night was filled with fouls and aggressive errors on both ends, and players on both teams got into foul trouble. Eaton’s Kaci Jurgensmier (16) was one of them, but she did not let that stop her, especially when she scored two back to back three pointers with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Jurgensmeier said, “You just have to be mentally ready to come off [the bench] and control what you can control. At that point I got to shoot and I couldn’t worry about them calling fouls or anything like that.”
And the Crowd: An extremely controversial foul call put Eaton’s fans and bench into an uproar. Eaton’s full court pressure had the ball trapped in the corner of the court by Rexius and Dixon with about 47 seconds left to go in the third when a Brush player threw an elbow and knocked Dixon to the ground. The foul was called on the Reds, but after much screaming from the fans and coaches, a double foul was called and both teams went to the free throw line.
Basketball Is a Four-Quarter Sport: Eaton got off to a slow start and seemed to be playing very flat in the first quarter, but they continued to build up their lead throughout the game. Head coach Todd Hernandez said, “We had to take it in chunks. You can’t just earn it all back in one possession.”
Rexius was a key player in building up the team’s momentum. Although she was in a little bit of foul trouble, she scored 14 points in the game and continued to contribute positively with her incredible hustle and athleticism. Rexius said, “The best part for me was that we were down 18 to 4 and we came back, showing our relentlessness and how we could pull back from a deficit.”
Up Next: For 10 seniors, (Kaitlyn Carey, Bailey Schumacher, Caiden Rexius, Halie Shelden, Kaci Jurgensmeier, Amy Dyer, Lindy Dixon, Kim Powell, Emilia Cruz-Haswell, and Jordyne Nygren) this was their last home game and emotions were high. Hernandez said, “There’s a lot of different emotions on senior night and it’s a normal tendency to start slow. Each year I’ve been here we have started slow on senior night.” Next up, the Reds will take on Platte Valley on Feb. 9. at the Bronco’s home court.
