Eagles send seniors out with win
Last weekend was the last home games of the season for the Eagles and the last home games for three seniors in their collegiate careers.
The Eagles lost to the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and defeated Metropolitan State University-Denver.
The Eagles’ first game of the weekend was against the Mountain Lions of UCCS and the game was close all the way from the beginning until the end when a UCCS player hit a big 3-pointer and forced the Eagles to throw an almost half-court alley-oop, which couldn’t be completed, giving the Eagles an overtime loss.
The next game went all the way down to the wire against the Metropolitan State University-Denver Roadrunners. The Eagles tied the score twice before taking the lead in the fourth quarter and eventually winning 50-47, allowing the seniors one final home win.
Against UCCS, the Eagles offense was more fluent from the field against the Mountain Lions than in the past weeks. The Eagles shot 46.6 percent from the field but still saw shooting woes from the 3-point line shooting 21.1 percent. Erin Graham, junior of Deland, Florida, led the Eagles in scoring with 20 points, her career-high at CSC. Not too far behind her was Maka Daysh, sophomore of Tauranga, New Zealand, who managed to chip in 19 points. The duo accounted for 39 of the team’s 78 total points.
Defensively, the Eagles managed to hold the Mountain Lions to 42.9 percent shooting from the field and 35.7 percent shooting from the 3-point line. Daysh led the Eagles in rebounding pulling down 11 total rebounds, six of which were defensive.
The Eagles fought hard in the game and had the lead in the closing seconds of the game but allowed UCCS to hit a big shot in the closing seconds of overtime leaving the Eagles to throw Daysh an almost half-court alley-oop with .08 seconds left on the clock. Daysh missed, giving the Eagles their first loss of the weekend.
In the next game, the Eagles faced off against the Roadrunners, hoping to give the seniors one last home win in the Chicoine Center. The game started out rocky for the Eagles as they shot 12.5 percent from the field and 14.29 percent from the 3-point line in the first half. The Eagles eventually picked it up in the second half shooting 41.38 percent from the field and 36.36 percent from 3-point line. Daysh led the Eagles in scoring with 15 points. Graham managed to chip in 13 points to push the lead.
The Eagles kept the Roadrunners shooting percentages low for the game which helped turn what could have been a shootout into a game that had to be won on defense. The Roadrunners shot 35.7 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from the 3-point line, and 11 total turnovers and the Eagles managed to score seven points off of those turnovers.
The Eagles pulled a come-from-behind win and take the lead in the second half to not only give them their eighth conference win but to also send the seniors out on a high note.
The Eagles will now play away for the last three games of the season starting next week when they travel to Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction, and Westminster College, Salt Lake City.