| Kasey Mills drives to the basket during a preseason game last month. The Eagles kicked off the Scenic West Athletic Conference season this past weekend as the team competed against Utah Valley State College and Southern Idaho. |
The College of Eastern Utah women’s basketball team kicked off the regular season this past weekend. Although the two game streak ended in disappointement, the Eagles feel that they will be back on track this coming weekend as they continue to compete in conference play.
The Eagles started off regular season action against Utah Valley State College last Thursday night. The eastern Utah team jumped out strong in the first half of the road game. By the half, the Eagles were ahead 27-23.
As the second half got underway, the Eagles began to stumble. The Utah Valley Wolverines pressed the Eagles and dominated the court, thus stealing the Scenic West Athletic Conference victory by the final, 53-47.
CEU head coach Dave Paur explained the loss as disappointing.
“We played well in the first half, but the second half was our downfall. We only shot 18 percent from the field while Utah Valley shot 37 percent. They also shot 20 foul shots compared to the four which we shot. Regardless, we did quite well against the ninth ranked team in the nation,” explained Paur.
During the opening game, Megan Valgardsen played strong and lead the Eagles in scoring with 16 points. Valgardsen also pulled down 10 rebounds while posting two blocked shots and two steals.
Former Carbon Dino, Cassie Warburton had a successful first game with the Eagles as she scored 10 points. Warburton also nabbed four rebounds and completed 2-6 three-point field goals.
CEU then moved on to play the College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles.
The Saturday event played out much like the first game did for the CEU team. Once again, the eastern Utah Eagles jumped out ahead of the southern Idaho team. By the half, CEU lead CSI, 45-38.
The second half once again found CEU struggling to sink their shots as they posted only a 22 percent field goal percentage in the half. The shooting woes eventually lead to CEU’s defeat, 86-74.
“It was as if their legs gave out on them in the second game. I think that the Christmas break did us more harm than good, but we should bounce back quickly,” commented Paur.
Warburton lead the CEU team in scoring as she posted 22 points. She also shot 4-5 from the three-point line while completing three steals against the CSI team.
Valgardsen had another successful game as she scored 17 points and posted 14 rebounds.
Second year Eagle, Rose Hamilton also played well agains the Idaho team. Hamilton scored nine points, dished out three assists and stole three balls.
The Eagles will continue season action this weekend as they return home to host a double header weekend.
The main goal for the Eagles is to step up and better their field goal shooting average.
Consistancy is also a factor which the Eagles must improve on in order to jump ahead of the SWAC competition.
The Lady Eagles will host Southern Nevada Friday evening at 6 p.m. and Dixie Saturday night also at 6p.m.