Calvary Lutheran girls lose late against Eugene

Madison Lepper made her only two free throw attempts count.

With Calvary Lutheran and Eugene tied at 60 with :11 left Monday, Lepper made both free throws to put the Lady Eagles ahead. The Lady Lions recovered to drive the ball to the net for a couple of last second-shots, but they did not fall. Lexi Dickerson's ensuing two free throw makes iced Eugene's 64-60 win at Calvary Lutheran.

It was close, back-and-forth affair throughout the night. Calvary Lutheran led 12-9 at the end of the first quarter, but Eugene led 29-27 at halftime and 48-45 after the third quarter.

Still, Calvary Lutheran (7-4) did not fall behind by more than five points in the game. Becca Thompson eventually gave the Lady Lions a 50-49 lead with 6:10 left in the game, and Brooke Rollins followed with a 3 on the ensuing possession.

"They didn't give up, that's not something this team has done all season, even in our loses, they don't give up, they don't let the scoreboard dictate how they compete in a game," Calvary Lutheran head coach Jonathan Kueck said of the Lady Lions' comebacks. "We never use that as a factor at all. It's nice to see that program going in that direction they don't give up, it doesn't matter what the score is they continue to compete."

At one point, the Lady Lions led by as many as six points in the fourth quarter. Yet it was not enough to hold back Eugene (7-7), who slowly closed the gap. Katelyn Engelbrecht's two free throws tied it at 60 with 42 seconds left, and Eugene's did not allow another basket after that.

Disappointment was shown by the Lady Lions after the loss and some players quietly walked off the court with hands on their heads. Others looked down and just shook their heads.

Kueck, while disappointed in the result, still told his team this is a chance for them to grow.

"What I told the girls in the locker room it was just a good learning experience from both sides of it because being in that pressure when you come out on either side," Kueck said, "but I think you can learn more from it on the losing end of it to be able to as an individual and as a team you can learn from this experience what you can do better next time, how to improve and the like.

"I think it would've been nice if you could win every single game, we knew coming into this it would be tough but to, like I told the girls, as a program we're definitely improving and we're surprising a lot of teams, and that's a tough thing to swallow right now."

Rollins and Abbie Klatt led the Lady Lions in scoring with 16 points, including Rollins shooting 4-of-9 from 3. Lily McCarty had nine points, and Thompson had eight, including a buzzer-beater at halftime.

"To have when they shut down your best shoot, Rebecca, then to have Brooke Rollins step up like she did with the points tonight, not just Brooke, other girls as well there were others," Kueck said, "that shows that it's not just one individual carrying the team, which is nice its fun to take a team like that all the way. It would be nice to beat them for districts, we might see them in districts and compete against them again."

Dickerson led all players with 23 points on 6-of-18 shooting. Hannah Burks had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Lady Eagles. Engelbrecht also had 11 points, and Nicole Koetting had nine rebounds. Amanda Braun led Calvary Lutheran with eight revounds, and McCarty and Klatt each had six.

The Lady Eagles also won the JV match, 37-36.

Eugene has Fatima at home Thursday. Calvary Lutheran also plays Thursday at Vienna, where Kueck is anxious to see how his team responds from Monday's close loss.

"It's being in that game situation," Kueck said, "for the girls it's being able to learn from it, being in a tight game, being in a game where there's that much pressure. It's how do you compose yourself, especially in the fourth quarter with two minutes left in the game and how to handle it."