Lady Eagles playoff run ends at Enterprise

Ball runner:
Eagles Amy Westaby escapes the grips of Enterprise to shoot the ball. More photos are online at www.andersonvalleypost.com.

The West Valley girl's played strong for most of the game against Enterprise on Tuesday, but a first-quarter deficit proved to be too much for them to overcome.

The Eagles ended their playoff run in Enterprise with a 44-56 loss Tuesday in the Northern Section girls Division III playoffs.

The girls chipped away at Enterprise's first quarter lead, 21-8, and came within eight-points midway through the fourth quarter. But costly turnovers prevented West Valley from pulling out the win.

"That was a very pivotal point of the game," Eagles coach Daina Cowan said. "We started to make a run and then we would turn the ball over three times."

"We couldn't keep that run going without them getting a few points in the process, and spreading that point difference again."

Coach Cowan said if she had to do it over, she would have switched from a zone defense to a man-to-man defense earlier in the game to prevent Enterprise from taking the hefty first-quarter lead.

"They came out and hit a couple of threes right at the get go, and we just seemed to sit back in that zone defense. Zone defense is actually just the opposite, you have to play twice as hard," Cowan said.

Once the girls got into the man-to-man and caught on to Enterprise's main in-bounds play, they got right back in the game.

"As a whole I thought my girls played it really good," Cowan said. "We stayed with them for three-quarters we just couldn't make up that deficit from the first-quarter."

The coach gave her team credit for an aggressive defense, breaking Enterprise's press with their offense, and blocking and rebounding well.

Senior Morgan McCarley led the team with 15 points. Junior Taylor Lambert scored 10 points, and also led the team with 10 rebounds. Junior guard Amy Westaby had 9 points.

The Eagles determination to get themselves back in the game in spite of early mistakes, is a testament to their character, said Eagles coach Cowan.

"The girls never once gave up," she said. "They have a heart of a lion and they don't think the game is over until the very last buzzer goes off."

"I think we have won games because of that stick-to-it-ness that they have," she said "It's something you can't coach. You can't teach that, they just innately have that."