Girls Take Control of Summit Conference
The Fordland Lady Eagles played in a key Summit Conference matchup on Thursday January 11, against the Norwood Lady Pirates. These two teams were expected to be the front runners for the conference championship.
Fordland jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on the Lady Pirates to begin the game. Norwood was forced to call an early timeout. They responded well and kept pace with the Lady Eagles the rest of the way. Fordland held onto a six point lead after one quarter 17-11. The second quarter remained tight as Norwood and Fordland traded baskets until Norwood went on a 8-0 run and with 5:30 to go in the first half, the Lady Pirates claimed their first lead of the night 21-19. Fordland tied it up with a bucket from Emma Trotter at the 4:43 mark; however, after a three point play by Autumn Gunter, Norwood went up five 26-21 with 2:27 to go in the half. A bucket by Shelby Thomason broke the run by the Lady Pirates and Fordland tied the game back up with a three point basket by Loren Bojko with 1:07 to go and that is how the half ended, all knotted up at 26.
In the second half Fordland jumped out to a 31-26 after a three pointer by Trotter and a bucket by Thomason. Norwood then went on a 6-0 run of their own taking a 32-31 lead at the 4:53 mark from a put back basket by Gunter. The Lady Eagles then went on a 13-4 run to end the quarter as Trotter scored nine straight points before Bojko drained a bucket and Kayleigh Steimel got a put back off a rebound with :26 seconds to go. The fourth quarter both teams continued to battle, but Norwood could not cut into the eight point lead and Fordland picked up the win 56-48. Fordland improved to 10-4 on the season and 4-0 in the Summit Conference, while Norwood fell to 11-4 on the season and 1-1 in the conference. Trotter led all scorers with 22 points, Bojko finished with 16, Thomason with 8, Riley Rippee had 4, Steimel and Kenzie Haskins rounded out the scoring with 3 points each. Gunter led the Lady Pirates with 16 points.
Fordland will next be in action in the Galena Lady Bear Winter Classic on Thursday January 18 as they will take on Exeter at 5pm. Fordland carries the number one seed going into the tournament; however, they will have to avenge a 16 point loss to Blue Eye from earlier in the year in the Walnut Grove Holiday Classic to come away the champions.
