Fans of the Kent City Eagles have witnessed some incredible basketball over the years and grown accustomed to dazzling displays of fundamentals, talent and skill on the hardwood over the last few seasons in particular.
It is an impressive thing to stun a fanbase that has become so desensitized to such incredible and consistent performances.
Fans at the Nest were treated to such a thing on Friday night. In the first game of the Friday double-header, the Lady Eagles appeared to be on an absolute mission as Kent City hit 7 three point shots in the first quarter, alone.
Kent City absolutely overwhelmed the visiting Panthers with a scorching press defense that only exacerbated the shock of the Eagles’ repetitive three point barrage.
Several Panther players were visibly shaken by the speed with which Kent City was able to generate turnovers and points. In the end, the Eagles proved why they have been such a force in recent years as they beat Hesperia 63-17 and gave a preview of what was to come the rest of the night.
Kenzie Bowers led the Eagles in scoring with 17 points. She was joined in double figures by Jenna Harrison (11 points) and Mikayla Loew (10 points). Lexie Bowers and Joan Carr also provided a scoring spark off the bench with 9 points each.
The Kent City boys had seemingly no sooner taken the court for warmups than tore open another big lead in the night’s finale.
As with the first game of the night, the Eagles started fast and hard, establishing full-court pressure that generated easy fast break points and opened up the half-court offense with a combination of aggressive shots in the paint and kick-outs to open three point shooters.
The Hesperia boys seemed even more ill-equipped to handle the onslaught than the Lady Panthers had been in the first game and found themselves on the wrong side of a 25-1 first quarter score.
The Eagles started running through waves of substitutions deep into the bench the rest of the way, but each wave only provided fresh legs to apply unrelenting pressure to the Panthers offense.
The Eagles closed out the night with a 77-16 victory. Eli Carlson produced a game high 18 points, which was supported by three other Eagles (Casen Armstrong, Hayden Carlson and Max Hudson) who all finished with 11 points a piece.
The Eagle boys and girls both travel the short distance to Cedar Springs for a four game gauntlet (JV Girls/Boys & Varsity Girls/Boys) on Saturday and host conference rival Morley Stanwood High School for another four game showcase and conference lead next Tuesday (JV Girls/Boys & Varsity Girls/Boys).