East Linn Christian Academy’s girls went 1-2 last week, losing to two of the top-ranked 1A basketball teams in the state, then turning around to beat 3A Elmira 28-22 on the road Saturday, Jan. 10.
At Elmira, the Eagles were were playing their sixth game since the beginning of the new year.
“This was one of the last non-league games of our season, aside from Oakland later in February, Coach Sierra Carrier said. “So the game plan was to have fun.”
Maci Modderman led the Eagles with 11 points and 12 rebounds, her second double-double of the year, and Abby Garber added 10 points, with six rebounds and four steals. Bailey Kramer had 10 boards, with three steals along with four points.
“We had some fun.” Carrier said. “Our defense was locked solid, we brought the energy, and moved extremely well on offense. We had a very strong team flustered and they put it all together at the right time.
“Great team win before we start up league games this coming week.”
She said the Elmira game wrapped up a “very challenging pre-league schedule.”
In a 38-32 loss on the road Thursday, Jan. 8, against Southwest Christian, the state’s No. 3-ranked 1A team, the Eagles started the game “low-energy, but we dug our way back into it,” Carrier said.
“This was game 5 in 8 days, so a lot of basketball had been played. They have some pretty tall and long girls on Southwest Christian and we could not adjust like we wanted to.
“Although it was a tough game, we clawed our way back at the end and made it a close one.”
At home Jan. 6 against Country Christian, East Linn kept it close for most of the game until the Cougars pulled away at the end to win 47-39.
Maya Van Dyke had 10 points and nine rebounds to lead East Linn, while Garber added 10 points and three rebounds and Modderman eight points and 11 boards.
“This was a tough matchup for us,” Carrier said. “Country Christian is a very solid team and has a high basketball IQ on the floor. We saw them early in the summer, so we knew what we were getting into.
“We had them flustered at the beginning with our press but towards the end they caught us by making us speed our game up.”
Modderman finished with 10 points and four rebounds, while Van Dyke added six points and seven boards for the Eagles.
The Eagle girls, 6-8 entering Valley Conference play, started their league season Tuesday, Jan. 13, hosting Crosshill Christian at home. They play Toledo (6-5 coming into this week) on the road Thursday, Jan. 15, followed by a home game Tuesday, Jan. 20, against Central Linn (6-7 as of last Monday).
Eagle Boys Basketball
East Linn’s boys held off Country Christian on Jan. 6 in a 58-50 win, then fell 66-41 to 3A Division Elmira on Jan. 10. Statistics were not available from those games at press time. The Eagles, 7-5 coming into this week, hosted Crosshill Christian Tuesday, Jan. 13, and will open their Valley Coast Conference season Thursday, Jan. 15, at Toledo (6-5 coming into this week). They will host Central Linn (2-11 as of last Monday) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, followed by now-No. 3 Lowell at home at 7 p.m. on Jan. 21.
