The East Marion Lady Eagles are coming off a solid season, reaching the district title game and advancing to the second round of the playoffs, but are still finding their way with a much younger rotation this season.
Before heading off to Rod Paige Middle School to participate in the Lawrence County Holiday Tournament, head coach Calvin Brown said the Lady Eagles simply weren’t in the type of shape they needed to be in after a season-opening loss to Bay Springs.
However, the Lady Eagles handled their business well in Monticello, beating Wilkinson County and Wesson by a combined score of 97-46 and showed improvement in their conditioning in the eyes of Brown.
“I did see some improvement. There was a dip in the level of competition that contributed to that, but give us credit for taking advantage of it,” he said. “We did play better, harder and faster, and that’s why we were able to score more points.”
The Lady Eagles blitzed Wilkinson County early to take an 11-point lead into the second quarter, then held the Lady Wildcats to just 10 points combined over the remaining three quarters to win 60-23.
Amber Willis led the charge with 15 points, nine rebounds, eight steals and four assists, while Kaitlyn Echols had 11 points, four boards and four steals and Tytianna Porter had 10 points and five rebounds. Dontajha Stepney added nine points and three blocks from her point guard position, and RaQquiya Haynes also had nine points.
A day later, the Lady Eagles defense once again only surrendered 23 points in a 37-23 win over Wesson to finish the tournament 2-0, though there was no official bracket or champion.
Porter was the lone standout for East Marion, scoring more than half of the Lady Eagles points with 19, to go along with 12 rebounds, five steals and two assists. Willis only scored four points on 2-of-8 shooting but had a solid game overall with five boards, three assists and three steals.
While the Lady Eagles were able to win both games in the holiday tournament handily, there are two particular areas where Brown would like to see improvement.
“Defensive intensity and scoring,” he said. “We’ve got to get some points out of other people. Tytianna can score when we put her in position and so can Amber when she’s in position to score, but we need more from other people. We’re expecting, when we’re good, to get points from everybody that plays. Even if it’s just a bucket or two, anybody that hits the floor we’re expecting them to be able to put it in the hole at least occasionally.”
The Lady Eagles have run a number of freshmen out onto the court through their first three games, but they haven’t produced enough in Brown’s eyes.
“The potential is there, but I’m actually expecting more out of our freshmen players than what we’re getting right now in terms of production,” he said. “They do add depth and are giving us minutes and balance, but I’m expecting them to make plays on both ends. I don’t expect any of them to be freshmen after Christmas.”
The Lady Eagles hosted West Marion Tuesday, but results were unavailable at press time, and will be on the road Friday night to take on the Columbia Lady Wildcats at 6.
Pictured Above: Amber Willis gets around a defender last season. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
