COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — The Eastside Lady Eagles went on the road hoping to add their second win of the season, but the Woodward Academy War Eagles forced a plethora of turnovers en route to their 82-50 victory over the visiting Lady Eagles.
Since the preseason, Lady Eagles head coach Gladys King has stressed the importance of not having silly turnovers, and she was clearly disappointed by her team's play all-around play against the War Eagles. When asked what they may need to do to fix this turnover conundrum, King suggested changes to the lineup may be in play.
"Turnovers. Too much dribbling and not knowing when to get off the ball when we should and foul trouble," King said. "I know what I need to do as a coach, move some people around. If we're going to turn the ball over and make the same mistakes, I know it's game two, but by now, you should know. If the coach tells you not to make silly passes and you're still making silly passes and silly turnovers, you may need to sit on the bench watch."
King also has constantly stressed the importance of defense, which she holds as the most pivotal aspect of the game. She did not beat around the bush when addressing her team's defensive performance on the night, but she has an idea of what she wants to do to fix the defense.
"We struggled a lot tonight. If we're giving up 80 points, we struggled a lot," said King. "We didn't do a whole lot of pressing today, but I didn't think we were ready for that yet. So that's something I want to work on as far as with our conditioning."
King also said that she believes that her team may have been shocked by the War Eagles aggressive style of play, but does not see that as an excuse for her team's performance.
Despite the team's middling performance, the Lady Eagles did have some strong showings from Dasia Burgess and Jodi Reid, who both finished in double digits. Burgess led the way for the Lady Eagles with 18 points, while Reid finished with 10 points.
King was very pleased with how both Burgess and Reid stepped up on a tough night.
"Dasia stepped up and not only did she score, but she rebounded the ball and had to bring the ball up the court sometimes, so she was doing some things that I don't normally ask her to do, but she's going to do that anyway because that's who Dasia is," said King. "I'm very happy with Jodi's play, and she is being consistent and doing the things that I've asked her to do."
The Lady Eagles will hope to move on from this performance and improve before their next contest, which is quite a ways away.
They will face the McDonough Warhawks in two weeks on Dec. 3 in the Lady Eagles' home opener.