There is a saying that the Eldorado girls' basketball team lived by this week: If it's not broke, don't fix it.
Heading into Saturday's pool play championship of the Lady Eagle Mid-Winter Classic, Eldorado found themselves in a three-way tie with Benton and Vienna, all with an identical 3-1 record.
The tie-breaker was free throw shooting percentage, where Eldorado won out at 80.2, over (Benton 72 percent) and Vienna (69 percent).
That free throw shooting proved to be beneficial for Eldorado, who shot 84 percent in the championship game and knocked off Harrisburg 67-61 as the Eagles claimed their first championship of their own tournament since 2001 and denied Harrisburg its third straight title.
Eldorado, who shot 15-for-16 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, held off a late rally by Harrisburg, where Lexie Mitchell, who went 7-for-10 from the line had nine points took home Most Valuable Player honors.
"I've explained to these kids all season and even coming into (Saturday night) that we have shot 80 percent as a team coming into this tournament," said Eldorado head coach Scott Artman. "They understand how important free throws are and in games like that, I'm very comfortable that when we get fouled and have to go to the free throw line, we can go up there and knock them down.
"The kids just played remarkably this week, we have seen them starting to come around and develop a little bit, I think that big win over Benton kind of lit a spark underneath them and they used that to kick them in gear," Artman added.
Eldorado got a game-high 19 points from Emma Wargel, who went 9-of-10 from the line, while Jade Hise added 18 points, Paige Munds tossed in 11 points and Lilly Mosby tacked on 10 points.
Karsyn Davis, who made the 10-person All-Tournament Team, had a team-high 17 points, while Madeline Rider finished with 14 points. Brooke Meylor tossed in 13 points, while Essence Sanders tossed in 11 points and Summer Sanders finished with four.
Harrisburg, who went 11-for-16 from the free throw line, knew that putting the Eagles on the stripe would be dangerous, but it was not getting to the line more that was a concern for Harrisburg head coach Jake Stewart.
"We knew that if we did foul them, they would make them, we just fouled them too much tonight and they did what they do," Stewart said. "I don't think we did a good enough job of getting to the line ourselves."
Gallatin County 47, Carmi-White County 30
Fueled by a 27-point effort from Audrey Jackson, who has been fighting off flu and strep-like symptoms all week, including a 14-point performance from Gracie Sauls, Gallatin County picked up a much needed 47-30 win over Carmi-White County Saturday morning at the Lady Eagle Mid-Winter Classic.
The only other scorer for Gallatin County was Hallie Zirkelbach with six points.
FRIDAY
Harrisburg 54, Mt. Carmel 46
Harrisburg found themselves in the championship game of the Lady Eagle Mid-Winter Classic for a fourth straight year after disposing of Mt. Carmel 54-46 Friday night.
Karsyn Davis had a double-double, pouring in a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor and finishing 3-of-6 from 3-point range, while grabbing a game-high 18 rebounds.
Essence Sanders was the only other Harrisburg player to finish in double figures as she flipped in 15 points.
Brooke Meylor netted nine in the win for Harrisburg, while Summer Sanders scored four points and Madeline Rider tacked on three points.
Eldorado 74, Goreville 57
Eldorado put five players in double figures including a team-high 17 points from Lexie Mitchell in a 74-57 win over Goreville Friday night.
Lilly Mosby finished with 15 points, while Jade Hise and Emma Wargel both tacked on 12 points. Paige Munds tossed in 11 points and Lacey Hobbs finished with seven points.
Lexi King had a game-high 27 points for Goreville and Payton Sopczak also finished in double figures with 13 points.
THURSDAY
Goreville 59, Gallatin County 16
Gracie Sauls and Makenzie Russell both had four points for Gallatin County in their 59-16 loss to Goreville Thursday night at the Eldorado Lady Eagle Mid-Winter Classic.
Emma Brockett and Megan Morgan each tacked on three points, while Hallie Zirkelback had two points.
Galatia-Thompsonville 58, Cobden 35
Galatia-Thompsonville picked up a 58-35 win over Cobden Thursday night at the Elverado Tournament to improve to 8-10 on the season.
Kate Bond and Jaedyn Beers each finished with a double-double for Galatia-Thompsonville as Bond had a game-high 21 points, while pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds. Beers poured in 20 points and finished with 10 rebounds.
Bailey Crisp scored six points for the Bearcats, while Maddie McFarland finished with five points. Chloe Mays, Ashley Jackson and Destiny Taylor all had two points.
20th Annual Lady Eagle Winter Classic All-Tournament Team: Karsyn Davis (Harrisburg), Lilly Mosby (Eldorado), Jade Hise (Eldorado), Mady Wallace (Benton), Leah Bowers (Fairfield), Maya Smith (Mt. Carmel), Payton Sopczak (Goreville), Haleigh Keeling (Vienna), Alyssa Jones (Vienna), Angel Helm (Anna-Jonesboro). Duff-Kington Award: Lexi King (Goreville). MVP: Lexi Mitchell (Eldorado)
Lady Eagle Winter Classic
at Eldorado High School
Gold Pool: Eldorado, Benton, Gallatin County, Goreville, Vienna
Purple Pool: Anna-Jonesboro, Carmi-White County, Fairfield, Harrisburg, Mt. Carmel
Saturday, January 12
Harrisburg 69, Carmi-White Co. 44
Anna-Jonesboro 43, Mt. Carmel 40
Vienna 67, Gallatin Co. 29
Eldorado 58, Benton 49
Harrisburg 56, Fairfield 47
Mt. Carmel 49, Carmi-White Co. 35
Monday, January 14
Fairfield 42, Anna-Jonesboro 35
Vienna 40, Goreville 39
Gallatin County 40, Benton 29
Tuesday, January 15
Harrisburg 50, Anna-Jonesboro 42
Fairfield 36, Carmi-White Co. 28
Vienna 73, Eldorado 70
Wednesday, January 16
Eldorado 53, Gallatin Co. 21
Mt. Carmel 54, Fairfield 48
Benton 36, Vienna 34
Goreville 59 Gallatin County 16
Friday, January 18
Anna-Jonesboro 48, Carmi 33
Eldorado 74, Goreville 59
Harrisburg 54, Mt. Carmel 46
Saturday, January 19
Gallatin County 47, Carmi-White County 30 (5th place)
Goreville 40, Mt. Carmel 37 (4th place)
Anna-Jonesboro 38, Vienna 25 (3rd place)
Fairfield 51, Benton 39 (2nd place)
Eldorado 67, Harrisburg 61 (1st place)
