Lady Eagles hold off 4th quarter surge in 34-30 roundball victory

The Morris Lady Eagle varsity basketball team left the gym floor at Caney Valley High School Tuesday evening on the winning side of a 34-30 contest.

The Lady Eagles led by 14 after three quarters and had to hold off a late rally by the host Lady Trojans to escape with the narrow victory.

The narrow 4-point win puts the Morris squad at 3-4 on the year, heading into Tuesday’s first-half finale at home against Liberty- Mounds. In Tuesday’s road win, the Lady Eagles came out of the first period with a slim 10-8 advantage, then went into the intermission in front by 13 points, 23-10, after outscoring the host Lady Trojans 13-2 in the second stanza.

An 8-7 margin in the third quarter pushed the Morris lead to 14 (31-17) with one period remaining.

The Morris offense was held to just three points in the final eight minutes of regulation, while Caney Valley tallied 13 points in the final frame. The 10-point margin was not enough for the host Lady Trojans to overcome the sizeable Morris lead, awarding the Lady Eagles their third win of the campaign – a 34-30 decision.

The balanced offensive attack for Morris was led by Skylar Phillips, who finished one point shy of double figures at nine. Other Lady Eagle scorers in the road win were Lillian Giddens and Alexis Schell six each, Emma Duclos five, Fire Clark four, and Ashlyn Clevenger and Kaylynn Lukenbill two apiece.

— Girls Game

Morris 34, Caney Valley 30

Morris: 10 – 13 – 8 – 3 (34) Caney Valley: 8 – 2 – 7 – 13 (30) Morris Scoring: Skylar Phillips 9, Lillian Giddens 6, Alexis Schell 6, Emma Duclos 5, Fire Clark 4, Ashlyn Clevenger 2, Kaylynn Lukenbill 2.