EV outlasts Keota

A late 3-pointer appeared to give the Keota girls? basketball team the momentum it needed on Tuesday night, but in overtime, English Valleys pulled away.

The Eagles got a 3-pointer from Mariah Lyle to tie things up at 37 with 20 seconds left, sending the game into overtime, but English Valleys beat Keota at the free-throw line, notching seven shots at the charity stripe to defeat the Eagles 44-37.

The loss moves Keota to 0-7 on the season.

?This group is pretty resilient so far,? first-year Keota head coach Jeff Sprouse said. ?They?ve had some things not go the way they thought they would, but they haven?t hung their heads. On the other hand, we still came up short, and that?s something I?ve told them. It?s like putting a puzzle together. Every piece is there, but they just aren?t quite getting it to fit yet. Once it happens we?ll be fine.?

Keota and English Valleys both struggled to shoot the ball in the first half, with the Bears taking a 15-8 lead into the halftime break.

After English Valleys jumped out to a 19-8 lead in the third quarter, Keota?s Raigan Sprouse scored 11 of the next 13 points for the Eagles, as Keota went on a 13-4 run to close the gap to two points.

In the fourth quarter, Keota snagged its first lead of the game on a Brianna Duwa bucket, and they extended the lead to three on an Addison Sprouse score.

English Valleys responded quickly with six straight points.

Down three with 20 seconds left, Lyle hit her 3-pointer, but the Bears were strong on their free throw shooting in the overtime period to claim the victory.