Women Lead Early in Two GVC Losses

The Eagle women started strong against both Butte and Feather River in a pair of Golden Valley Conference home games January 18th and 21st but didn't keep pace.

The Eagles led by 12 points midway through the second quarter against Butte, 33-21, then the Roadrunners poured in buckets of threes and finished the half on a 14-3 run to tie it at 46-46.

Pressure defense helped Butte keep its momentum going in the third quarter, which ended with the Eagles trailing 75-56.

Playing at home for the first time in two and a half months, The Eagles gave their fans something to cheer about with a 15-3 closing run before losing 87-77.

Butte made 8 three-pointers in the second quarter, 12 in the first half, and 14 in the game, shooting 53.8 percent from the beyond the arc.

Freshman Asia Hendrix scored 12 of her team-high 17 points in the first half for the Eagles, and freshman Breanne Hands made 5 of her 10 shots from long distance and finished with 16 points. Halliday Hubbard scored 12, Karli Reynolds 9, Jazmyne Wells and Megan Bennett 8 each, and Kayana Woodard 7. Five of Wells' 7 rebounds came on the offensive side, and she led the team with 9 assists. Hendrix was 8 for 10 from the field and had 7 rebounds. Woodard had 7 rebounds and 2 steals, and Bennett had 5 rebounds and 2 steals.

For Butte, Sarah Tait was 5 for 7 on three-point shots, 6 for 7 on free throws and finished with 29 points.

The Eagles were out-shot and out-scored from the free throw by a wide margin against both Butte and Feather River. Butte was 21 for 26 on free throws, compared to the Eagles' 6 for 11.

In Saturday's 87-74 loss to Feather River, the visitors made 27 of 32 free throw attempts, including 16 of 18 in the second half. The Eagles were 9 for 18 on foul shots.

The Eagles had a 33-27 lead with less than 2 minutes to play in the first half against Feather River, but trailed at the break, 34-33. Feather River led 63-56 at the end of the third quarter, and the Eagles were unable to get any closer than that in the final period.

Wells sank 5 threes and led Siskiyous with 24 points. Bennett scored 17, Hendrix 13, Hands 9, Woodard 7.

Every time the Eagles got something going in the second half, Feather River had an answer, usually from Alyssa Barnard (No. 12) or Megan Donnelly (No. 15). Donnelly made all 10 of her free throw attempts in the second half and finished with 26 points. Barnard was 8 for 8 on free throws and scored 23 points. Early in the second half, Kylee Cox (No. 2) hit four threes in a hurry to score 12 of her 13 points. She had been 1 for 12 on three-point attempts in Feather River's previous game, a 69-49 win over Redwoods.

Feather River (4-1, 15-5) and Butte (3-1, 18-3) lead the GVC, ahead of Shasta (2-2, 9-12), Lassen (1-2, 9-10), Siskiyous (1-3, 14-6), and Redwoods (1-3, 6-15).

The Eagles are scheduled to play at Redwoods Wednesday at 7 p.m., then return home to face Lassen at 3 p.m. Saturday.

By Steve Gerace