By Wayne Lee – Sports Editor
When last we left the Lady Eagles basketball team, they were on their way to Corvallis for the Spartan Holiday Classic tournament Dec. 19-21. They opened with a game against Philomath, the second ranked 4-A team in the state that had only lost one game this season. The Warriors jumped out to an early 14-6 lead and went into the locker room up 37-17 at the intermission before coasting to a 60-38 victory.
“We had a really slow start, and we also had some foul trouble early on,” said coach Denise Ledbetter. “We shot poorly from the floor which was the difference in the game. We took care of the ball and outrebounded them, but our shots just weren’t falling.”
Emary Haning led Eagle Point with 14 points and nine rebounds. Kady Ledbetter had nine points and seven boards while younger sister Kolbie added six points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
The team then took on host Corvallis where they dropped a 53-37 decision to the Spartans. The Lady Eagles led 13-12 after the first period but trailed 23-19 at the half and were unable to mount a comeback. “Poor shooting got us against Corvallis,” according to coach Ledbetter. “We matched up pretty well with them but didn’t get our shots to fall and they beat us on the boards.” On the plus side, the team committed just six turnovers in the game.
Eagle Point then closed out the tournament with a one-sided 56-17 drubbing of the Centennial Eagles.
Eagle Point finished 2025 once again on the road, traveling to Roseburg where they dropped a close 58-52 decision to the home team. Roseburg jumped out to an early 18-8 lead to start the game only to see the Eagles battle back to trail 28-24 at the half and were unable to make up the difference in the second half.
Haning led the team with 14 points, 12 in the middle quarters. Kolbie Ledbetter also had 14 points to go with 10 rebounds while Garlitz tossed in nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and four steals.
“We played a great game in the first half, and it was tied at 24 at halftime,” said coach Ledbetter. “We played great defense and were aggressive but had some foul trouble which hurt us. Millie Lathen hit four three-pointers in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter.” Lathen had the hot hand for Grants Pass, scoring 32 of her team’s 64 points.
The Lady Eagles will travel to Springfield Dec. 16 for their next league game.
Boys basketball
The young Eagles team has continued to struggle. With just two seniors on the roster, Eagle Point hasn’t won a game since Dec. 13, dropping seven in a row since then. The Eagles closed out 2025 by traveling to the Red Bluff Holiday Classic Dec. 18-20. Eagle Point opened the tournament falling 59-56 to the host Spartans before losing 69-40 to 12 Bridges High and 65-53 to Arcata.
The Eagles returned home to host Klamath Union Jan. 3 where the Pelicans jumped out to an early 28-16 first quarter lead and held on for the 67-56 win. Wyatt Kirby led Eagle Point with 23 points including going five for five from the field to account for 10 of his team’s 12 points in the third quarter. Dawson Glasgow added 21 as the pair accounted for 44 of the Eagles’ 56 total points.
Eagle Point next hosted Henley on Jan. 6. The two teams had squared off a month earlier with the Hornets posting a 69-62 win. The rematch was no exception as Henley walked off with a 55-42 victory.
It was cold shooting in the first half as the Eagles managed just six points in the first quarter on a pair of three-point shots, one by Kirby and the other by Carson Robinson, his only points of the game. The second period was even worse as Eagle Point could muster just four points to trail 26-10 at the intermission.
The Eagles’ shooting warmed up in the second half as they matched the Hornets basket for basket down the stretch but couldn’t make up the deficit. Kirby led the Eagle Point offense with 13 points with Wyatt Terpening adding 12, all in the second half.
The Eagles went back on the road to open league play against Thurston Dec. 8 where they were no match for the Colts, dropping a 91-39 decision. It was the seventh consecutive loss for Eagle Point, dropping them to 2-11 overall while Thurston notched their fifth consecutive win to rise to eighth in the state rankings. The Eagles travel to Springfield Dec. 16 for their next game.
Wrestling
Eagle Point was one of 41 teams to travel to Grants Pass for the annual Grants Pass Winter Classic Dec. 19 & 20 where the Eagles walked off with the title, scoring 172.5 points, 10 points higher than host Grants Pass. Nathan Mallari led the way taking the championship at 144 pounds. Gavin Pogue (165) had a second-place finish, Cash Nekoule (190) was third, Damian Amaral Perez (126) and Jaxon DeVette (120) each finished fourth while Ethan Metcalf (157) and Thomas Wippel (138) placed fifth. Sean McFall (157) and Isaac De La Cruz (165) each placed sixth to round out the scoring.
The team then traveled to West Albany for the Northwest Duals tournament where Eagle Point’s boys team placed fourth, losing to eventual champion Thurston before dropping the semi-final match to Sweet Home, 41-30. The girls contingent ended up in fifth place overall with a team score of 118.5.
The Eagles then came home to host the annual Hunter Hoeptner Memorial Wrestling Tournament Jan. 3. where they finished in a tie for third place out of 15 teams. Summit took the title with 175 points, Douglas was second with 143 points and Eagle Point and Henley both finished third with 134 points. Gage Hamann (144) was the only Eagles grappler to take first place in his weight class.
