The Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Cowboys and the Eagle Grove Eagles opened their regular season’s against each other on Monday night at Clarion-Goldfield-Dows High School in Clarion. The games were concurrent with the “Slam the Stigma” event, a campaign to raise mental health awareness and suicide prevention, in honor of former CGD student Brandon Zingrang.
The girls game kicked off the night, and the Cowgirls wasted no time in jumping all over their county rivals. Hot shooting and an effective press put CGD up 14-0 before 2 minutes had gone by in the 1st quarter, and Liz Ennis group rode that start to a 25-7 lead at the end of the first. The lead would then balloon to 47-14 by halftime, before CGD would cruise in the 2nd half to cap off a 68-27 win. Sawyer Morrical led all scorers with 21 points and 5 three-pointers, while Lexie Lane had 18 points. Nadia Kaiser led Eagle Grove with 9 points.
Following the girls, the boys matchup appeared to be the more even of the two games on paper, and the game played out as such. Both teams kept the pace high as Eagle Grove held a 11-10 lead at the end of the 1st. The Eagles saw that lead grow to 30-26 at halftime. The 3rd quarter would be a battle, as CGD would battle back to tie the game, but a quick Eagle Grove run before the end of the period put the Eagles up 43-37 headed into the 4th. Timely shots and clutch free throw shooting would allow Eagle Grove to pull away for a 60-49 win.
Eagle Grove’s win was the first in boys basketball over Clarion-Goldfield-Dows in 13 tries, the last win coming on January 17th, 2014. Jordan Morris led all scorers with 24 points, while shooting 10-of-11 on free throws. Jaxon Morris and Drake Canavan also had 15 points each for Eagle Grove. Nevan Foss led Clarion-Goldfield-Dows with 18 points.
Eagle Grove returns to action on Tuesday night against Forest City, while Clarion-Goldfield-Dows returns to action on Friday against St. Edmond.