Lady Eagles Claim Share of the Summit

Coach Kevin McDaris knew that Thursday night had the potential to be a big night for the Fordland Lady Eagle basketball program. Fordland was in the drivers seat of the Summit Conference with an undefeated conference record at 5-0. A win on Thursday night would have given the Lady Eagles at least of a share of the conference championship, a place they have not been since 2008. Standing in their way was the Gainesville Lady Bulldogs.

Fordland came out in the first quarter and jumped on top within the first 15 seconds of the game on a bucket from Loren Bojko, and they never looked back. Fordland received a 3-point basket by Kenzie Haskins, along with a layup by Lily Kindall and two 3-pointers by Emma Trotter and the Lady Eagles jumped out to a 13-4 lead after one quarter. Coming out to start the second quarter, Fordland got a layup from Trotter and bucket from Kayleigh Steimel to go up by 13 before Gainesville could get a couple free throws from Jillian Morse. Bojko quickly put the Lady Eagles up by 13 but the Lady Bulldogs did not give up. A basket by Andrea Winrod and two free throws by Addie Alms cut the lead back to single digits. A 3-point basket by Britton Suter put Fordland back up 12 at 22-10. Alms got a basket to keep Gainesville close but a quick basket by Trotter put the lead back to a dozen. The Lady Bulldogs missed on three of four chances at the free throw line to end the half and Fordland held the lead at the half 24-13.

Gainesville came out in the third quarter with a fire in their belly and battled the Lady Eagles. Winrod picked up a bucket followed by a 3-point basket by Laney Suter for the Lady Bulldogs cut the lead to six at 24-18. After Fordland got one of two free throws by Shelby Thomason, Winrod powered home another bucket and the lead was down to just five. Bojko went to the free throw line making one of two and the Lady Bulldogs capitalized with a score from Sarah Hessman and the lead was down to four 26-22. Coach McDaris called a timeout and the Lady Eagles responded well. A free throw apiece from Haskins and Steimel was followed by free throws by Kindall and the four point lead was quickly back up to eight. Then Haskins hit a mid range jumper follwed by Kindall who got a layup and was fouled. Kindall hit the free throw and the lead had jumped back up to 13 at 35-22. Fordland’s Steimel got a put back with 1:39 to go in the third quarter and Kindall got another layup and was fouled again and the once four point lead was now sitting at 17. Gainesville stopped the 13-0 run that the Lady Eagles had with a 3-pointer by Laney Suter but that was answered by Steimel who banked home a 3-pointer as time expired and Fordland went to the bench with a 42-25 lead after three quarters. Fordland went on to outscore Gainesville in the fourth quarter 10-2 with 5-6 free throw shooting from Thomason, Bojko and Bailey Cook. Bojko also picked up another offensive rebound put back and Cook drained a 3-pointer to finish the scoring for Fordland. Gainesville had two free throws from Alms and Fordland came away with the win 52-27.

The win improved the Lady Eagles record to 15-6 on the season and more importantly 6-0 in the Summit Conference. Fordland claimed their share of the Summit Conference Championship for the first time in 16 years. Coach McDaris said this was the first time since 2008 that the Lady Eagles have won a conference championship. He stated that the work is not done yet. Fordland has one more Summit Conference game to be able to run the table and finish undefeated in the conference. This is always a goal every year, but with how competitive our conference is, it is hard to accomplish said McDaris. Fordland will travel to Hartville to finish their conference and regular season on February 15. Before that they will have home games against Rush on Monday February 5, Mountain Grove on the 8th and Bradleyville on the 13th. McDaris said he would like to have a nice run of wins as they head into the District tournament on February 19-23. He also said he would love to end with sole ownership of a conference title before heading into Districts.