The Lyons High Girls Basketball team sits at 4-6 (1-2 Mile High League). The team features senior captains and starters Alora Cross and Hannah Paton, along with returning all-conference guard junior Avery Joy, junior point guard Jazmyn Enny, and returning starter, junior Hannah Schweiger.
In recent years, the Gilpin High girls team has struggled to compete with the rest of the league, winning only three games in 2018/19. This year is a different story, as the Eagles are much improved, and brought a 4-3 winning record to the matchup with Lyons.
Throughout the first half Lyons’ pressure created opportunities to put up points, but the girls struggled to convert. That turned out to be the theme throughout the game as the Lions shot just 8-41 from the field, and just 4-14 from the free throw line.
Despite the shooting struggles, the Lions trailed by as few as four points during the fourth quarter. Still, they could not find enough scoring to catch the Eagles. The final score was 32-21 as the Lions were forced to put the Eagles on the free throw line late in the game. Gilpin converted nearly every attempt. Enny scored 11 points and tallied 8 rebounds to lead the Lions.
Thursday night (January 16) the Lions had a “tall” task facing the number-one-ranked Heritage Christian Eagles. Heritage Christian features 6’3″ college-bound center Emma Johnson and 6’0″ Savannah Brown. Lions coach Marcus Richardson told the girls before that game that their goals were simply to have fun and play hard.
During the first quarter, employing a full-court press versus their formidable opponent, the Lions forced turnovers and limited the Eagles’ chances inside. Enny hit a three pointer from the corner to start the scoring, and sophomore Jewel Bean converted a nice pick-and-roll layup to keep the Lyons close throughout the first.
Lyons’ strategy was to limit the inside play of the two posts and force the Eagles to make outside shots. Unfortunately, the Eagles were on target all night, making three pointer after three pointer to lead by 7 after the first quarter, and 18 after the second.
Despite the final score (51-19), the team stood strong, and played hard against one of the better teams in all of 2A basketball.
“This team has goals in front of them that are very reachable,” Coach Richardson said after the game. “We have some experience with the first five, but the bench is still very young and is still learning the game. Our challenge is to overcome adversity, not succumb to it. I’m confident we will come together and finish the season strong.”
Senior starter Cross said about the matchup, “We played really well against Heritage. Although we lost, I think that was one of our best games of the season. We came together and played tough against an amazing team.” Cross added, “Our season has been going well so far, and I am excited to see how far we will go this year. We are just starting to play together as a team and not just as five players. I think that we can continue to get better throughout the season, and I can’t wait to see how good we can get.”
On Friday, January 24th, the Lions have an important conference road game at Longmont Christian in the Faith Point Christian Gym.