Eagles face off against Vikings, Wildcats

ST. JOHN - The St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse (SJEL) boys and girls basketball teams played a pair of Southeast 1B League games against the Garfield-Palouse (Gar-Pal) Vikings and Colton Wildcats over the weekend.

The SJEL boys fell to Gar-Pal, 80-36, on Friday, Jan. 17, before defeating the Colton Wildcats, 46-34, Saturday, Jan. 18.

The Eagles girls lost to the No. 1-ranked team in the Southeast 1B Gar-Pal Vikings, 98-17, on Friday and fell to the Wildcats, 58-17, on Saturday.

Boys games

On Friday, the Eagles trailed the Vikings, 24-11, to end the first quarter and fell behind 40-21 at halftime. SJEL scored 11 points in the third and four in the fourth while the Vikings added 25 in the third and 14 in the fourth.

Senior Braiden Thomas led the Eagles with 10 points on four field goals in the game with fellow senior Avery Anderson scoring nine points on four field goals. Junior Bear Brewer and sophomore Brody Fleming each added six points for SJEL.

The Eagles went on to defeat the Colton Wildcats the next night, winning, 46-34.

SJEL started strong, taking an 11-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and taking a 24-15 lead at halftime.

The teams paced each other in the third quarter with SJEL scoring nine and Colton adding 10 before the Eagles came away with the victory.

Eagles junior Bear Brewer led his team with 28 points on 12 field goals and shooting 3-for-5 from the free-throw line. Senior Braiden Thomas added eight points for the Eagles, hitting 4-of-12 in field goals.

Girls games

Against the Vikings, SJEL was no match against the League's top-seeded team Gar-Pal Vikings.

Gar-Pal took a 33-4 lead to end the first quarter and gained a 67-8 lead at halftime. With the Eagles scoring nine in the third and none in the fourth and the Vikings adding 21 in the third and 10 in the fourth, Gar-Pal came away with the win.

SJEL junior Chloe Waddell led the Eagles with six points on two field goals and shooting a perfect 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. Freshmans Brianna Camp, Ember Brewer and Alexa Brewer each added three points for the Eagles.

The Eagles team collectively shot 4-for-8 from the free-throw line for 50% efficiency.

Against the Wildcats on Saturday, the Eagles fell, 58-17.

Colton took a 14-2 lead to end the first quarter and held a 27-8 advantage at halftime. With SJEL scoring seven points in the third and two in the fourth while the Wildcats gained 22 in the third and nine in the fourth, Colton got the win.

Waddell led the Eagles with eight points and Camp added four. Freshman Loren Loomin and Ember Brewer each scored three points for the Eagles.

Next up for SJEL is to take on the Waitsburg Cardinals in away games on Friday, Jan. 24. The girls game will start at 6 p.m. with the boys to follow at 7:30 p.m.