Lady Bears come up just short of winning streak

The Lady Bears were hoping to get their third win of the season and more over .500 after beating Cedar Valley Christian on December 3 but came up just short against the Lady Eagles the following evening. Despite a tough battle, even holding a lead midway through the final quarter, but some late free throws led to a 41-36 win for Keota.

Keota got their offense going early in a low scoring game, taking a narrow 6-5 lead after the conclusion of the first quarter. The offense was stalling out early on for the Lady Bears as they fell behind 13-7 midway through the second quarter. Not much offense kept things going at a slow pace but some late threes by the Lady Bears allowed them to cut into the deficit, still trailing 16-15 at the half. At that point, Addison Sprouse had eight points for the Lady Eagles and Karyssa Westfall had scored five to lead EV.

English Valleys was unable to get to the basket in those final seconds, while a couple more free throws from Paige Thompson sealed it for Keota. English Valleys had outscored Keota 15-4 in the fourth quarter, but those four points were big in the end.

The Lady Bears did have some better success the night prior, when they hit the road to take on Cedar Valley Christian. The Lady Bears started out slow again, scoring only eight points in the first quarter, but the defense did its job in holding CV to only four points. They replicated that performance in the second quarter to go into the half up by eight points.

Following their game against Keota, the Lady Bears had back to back home games against Belle Plaine and Iowa Mennonite on December 7 and 8. They won’t play again until December 17 when they take to the road to play Highland.

To see the full story, along with coaches comments, check out the Dec. 12 edition of the News-Review.