Less than a week after clinching the area championship,, the Goshen Lady Eagles “didn’t show up” in their 55-43 loss to Luverne.

The Lady Eagles had opportunities to shut the Tigers down but too many missed rebounds and second chances thwarted their efforts.

“We didn’t show up tonight,” said Eagles head coach Fred Lowery. “We didn’t box out at all tonight. In the first half they had 22 points off putbacks. We didn’t find a body and box out.”

The Eagles only managed to score seven points in the first quarter, all of them by freshman Bre Griffin. In the second quarter more second-hand points by the Tigers led to easy baskets and the Lady Eagles entered halftime trailing 32-19.

Griffin kept the Eagles in play for the majority of the game. The young freshman put up 13 points in the first half.

Although the Tigers increased their lead to 45-30 entering the fourth quarter, Lowery began to see his team play with a little more fire and energy.

“In the third quarter we turned up the heat a little bit and we were able to gain some momentum by pressing,” Lowery said. “Our pressing … looked much better in the second half.”

The Eagles closed the gap to eight points in the final quarter, but it wasn’t enough.

“We dug ourselves too big of a hole,” Reynolds said. “I though we were going to have a chance but they ended up getting on the free throw line, and it just didn’t work out for us tonight.”

Griffin led the Eagles with 30 points on Tuesday night while sister Shamiya Griffin finished with seven.

The Eagles will now turn their site to Thursday night when they get set to host Ariton at 5:30 p.m.

“We just have to continue to do what we have been doing,” Reynolds said. “We have to play team basketball and make sure that we communicate on the court.”