Eagles Fall, But Continue to Show Improvement

Faith hosted their last regular season home game Friday night against Kansas Christian College (Overland Park, KS). In what has been a growing season for them, the Eagles were hoping this would be a game that would show signs of improvement. Despite the outcome indicated by the score, Faith played some of their best basketball as a team and kept the game close for most of the way, until Kansas Christian pulled away in the last ten minutes and won 82-61.

The Eagles struggled with turnovers all through the first quarter, but between Kansas Christian's poor shooting and lack of rebounding, Faith stayed in contention. Faith turned the ball over 9 times in the quarter but also outrebounded the Falcons 12-3. After the first ten minutes, the Falcons held just a 19-16 advantage over the Eagles.

Faith came into the second quarter and quickly tied up the score at 21-21; however, Kansas Christian put their shooting struggles from the first quarter behind them and started a 9-0 run to go ahead 30-21. The Falcons shot 52 percent from the field in the second, while Faith shot just 26 percent. Faith turned the ball over on four straight possessions to close out the half, resulting in Kansas Christian putting together another 9-0 run and entering the break up 44-27.

Faith and Kansas Christian switched shooting roles in the third, as Faith shot 53 percent and Kansas Christian only shot 29 percent. The Eagles outscored their opponent 20-13 and found themselves down just ten at the end of the quarter.

While the Eagles hoped to carry over the offensive push to get themselves back in the game, the Falcons started the final quarter on an 11-0 run, which was pretty much all they needed to put the game out of reach for the Eagles. Faith fell to Kansas Christian by a final score of 82-61.

In spite of the loss, Faith found many positive areas to focus on. The Eagles were led by senior Alyssa Larson who posted yet another double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Emilie Morton stepped up both on the offensive and defensive ends. She also posted a double-double, finishing with 14 points and 16 rebounds. Faith crashed the glass against the Falcons and outrebounded them 46-30. Because of their rebounding efforts, 29 of the Eagles total points were scored on second chance opportunities.  

The Eagles will travel to Moberly, MO on Friday, February 10, to play Central Christian College of the Bible at 5 PM in what will be their final regular-season game.