Eagles win seventh straight LCL Tournament
Big first quarter boosts Olpe
By Brandon Schneeberger
Monday, January 30, 2012
The Olpe Eagles would not be denied another Lyon County League Tournament Championship Saturday evening.
The Eagles jumped out to a 32-5 first-half lead against Waverly and took the momentum they had throughout the tournament into the second half, eventually winning the game 60-26.
With the win, the Eagles won its seventh consecutive LCL tourney title.
“We just got off to such a great start,” said Olpe coach Jesse Nelson. “The kids played with a whole lot of energy. Defensively we were just awful good early. Our shots went down for the most part, and when shots are going down, you’re always going to look pretty good offensively.”
Kendyl McDougald and the Olpe Eagles got off to a dominating start in the game. Waverly couldn’t score until more than 5:30 had ran off the first quarter clock. Meanwhile, McDougald had 12 of her 20 points in the first quarter.
The Eagles were determined to force turnovers in the first half as they caused Waverly to turn the ball over on a number of occasions thanks to its full-court press. The turnovers would set the tone for the first half as the Eagles allowed just five points.
“I think that’s just hitting the floor with a lot of energy, and that’s what we did,” said Nelson. “The kids talked about coming out playing hard. I really thought they did, even the kids coming off the bench gave us great minutes.”
For Olpe in the first half, Elena Flott had six points despite sitting for a good portion of the half because of picking up two fouls.
“Kendyl has always been a big game player,” Nelson said. “She played a couple of years where she just kind of hung out until we needed a big game. She can just take over sometimes. She did a great job getting us going.”
The Bulldogs found some life in the third quarter as Katie Graham and Ashley Romig had five points apiece. Waverly outscored the Eagles 13-11 in the quarter, and Romig led Waverly with 13 points on the night.
McDougald had a game high 20 points for Olpe. All of her points came in the first and third quarters of play. In the fourth quarter, Flott took over scoring eight of her 14 points in the final quarter.
Nelson was pleased with his team’s performance overall in the tournament.
“Defensively we were pretty good every night,” said Nelson. “(Janae) Haag was just tremendous defensively. She makes so many things happen, plays with so much energy. I was really happy with us defensively. I kept thinking we were going to shoot better. Finally we did.”
Saturday at White Auditorium
Waverly 2 3 13 8 — 26
Olpe 23 9 11 17 — 60
WAV: Graham 5, Romig 13, Meader 8.
OLPE: Ke. McDougald 20, Haag 7, Flott 14, Samuels 2, Redeker 4, Ka. McDougald 5, Schneidegger 1, Spellman 4, Barnard 3.
honeybadger (anonymous) says...
Not fair at all if Olpe is 2A then they should have changed leagues. Oh well congrats to them.
January 30, 2012 at 4:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodoleboy (anonymous) says...
It does not matter if they 1A or 2A, either way they will smoke everybody in ladies bball
January 30, 2012 at 5:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
neighbor (anonymous) says...
We'll see about that in a couple of weeks gob
January 30, 2012 at 10:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
These gals make their buckets because they practice doing that. When they're not in regular practice sessions, they're practicing on their own. They all have basketball hoops at home on garages or barns or somewhere. Plus, they are coached well. There are two scholarship lady Eagles on E-State team right now.
January 31, 2012 at 10:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )