Paxon Edges Out Stanton

Fabrizio Gowdy | Jan. 14, 2020 | Sports

The Stanton College Preparatory School Blue Devils varsity girls basketball team suffered its sixth straight loss at the hands of the Golden Eagles of Paxon School for Advanced Studies in 38-29 home game Thursday night.

"We have a lot to work on with our technique and working together as a team," said Stanton senior forward Connor Kuhn.

Paxon's full-court defense stifled Stanton's offensive attack in the opening minutes of the first half. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 7-0 lead before the Blue Devils even managed to attempt a shot.

“We have to work on our man defense and our rotations,” said Stanton freshman guard Charlee Evoniuk, who led the Blue Devils in scoring.

After finding themselves in an early hole, the Blue Devils orchestrated a slow but steady comeback in a scrappy, turnover-filled second quarter. A string of made free throws and a pair of Charlee Evoniuk jumpers fueled a 10-2 Stanton run spanning nearly seven minutes.

Stanton took its first lead of the game on a 15-foot jumper from freshman guard Kaia Lipat with 1:20 to play in the second quarter. Seconds later, Evoniuk scored her second three-pointer of the half to give the Blue Devils a 17-13 halftime lead. 

The Golden Eagles closed the gap in the third quarter as Stanton experienced renewed offensive difficulties after Paxon switched to a man defense to start the second half. Following a three-point play from sophomore forward Gabriella Lonsdale, the Blue Devils clung to a 23-22 lead going into the fourth quarter.

"We could have played better at the end. We just got too excited and too overwhelmed and started throwing away passes we shouldn’t have thrown away,” said Lonsdale.

Stanton opened the final quarter strong, with Lipat hitting a three in the opening seconds. From there it was all downhill; the closing minutes featured Paxon pulling away with a decisive 16-1 run. The Golden Eagle defense smothered the Blue Devil offense, which committed several costly fourth quarter turnovers and only mustered two field goals in the final 10 minutes of the game.

With the result, Paxon wins its first game of the season after dropping its first 11, while Stanton is now 4-8.