Golden Eagles fall to Annawan, 75-43

By all accounts it was a rough evening for the Mercer County Golden Eagles girls basketball team.

Mercer County fell to 12-12 with the loss while Annawan improved to 17-7.

"That's why they are the number one team in the conference," said Mercer County head coach Steve Moseley after the game. "One of our problems is we can't practice at full speed. They shot the ball extremely well tonight.

While Annawan improved to 6-0 in the conference the Golden Eagles fell to 4-2. "Going down the stretch we should be able to compete with the rest of the teams on our schedule. Right now we are playing for second place in the conference."

They got off to a slow start against the Annawan Bravettes and never recovered.

The two teams traded baskets in the first minute of play. The Bravettes turned up the heat defensively from there and the Golden Eagles couldn't handle it as they went scoreless for six minutes. In this six minutes the Bravettes scored 21 unanswered points and took a 24-2 lead. Golden Eagles Emily Lower and Emily Weeks hit baskets in the final minute of the first quarter but Mercer County still trailed 28-6 heading into the second period.

Mercer County managed only three field goals in the second period as the Bravettes increased their lead to 33 points by halftime.

In the third quarter the Bravettes built a 45 point lead, 62-17 before Mercer County started to come back.

Down the stretch in the third quarter The Golden Eagles went on a 10-4 run to finish the period trailing 66-27.

The Golden Eagles outscored the Bravettes in the final period of play 16-9. Bailey Swanson hit for six points in the period and Elle Lower hit two of her game-high five three pointers in period to lead the Golden Eagles

Scoring for Mercer County were: Ellie Lower, 16; Bailey Swanson, seven; Mackenzie Baker and Emily Weeks, six; Emily Lower, five and Josie Finch, three.

Jayde VanHyfete led the Bravettes in scoring with 23 points while Morgan Van Hyfte added 17.