Eudora sophomore Emily Watson fires up a shot in the second half against St. James Academy on Dec. 5 at Eudora. St. James won 47-31.

Eudora ? Eudora High’s girls basketball coach Richard Ebel knew he had his work cut out for him when he glanced up at the scoreboard late in the first quarter and a goose-egg shined brightly on the home side.

EHS was held off the scoreboard for the first seven-plus minutes before ultimately falling to St. James, 47-33, in the opening round of the Eudora Invitational.

In fact, the Cardinals did not record their first field goal until 35 seconds to go in the first quarter, when sophomore Emily Watson drained a bucket. Her basket snapped a 13-0 run by the Thunder to open the game.

“We didn’t give the offense a chance,” Ebel said. “We didn’t get into a flow. Our shot selection wasn’t very good and then they got some run-outs on us. We have some good shooters, we just didn’t shoot well.”

But Eudora (1-1) did not go away following a lopsided first quarter in Monday’s matchup.

Instead, EHS was able to stay somewhat competitive for the remainder of the game despite hitting just 13 of its 43 shots from the floor. After being outscored by double-digits in the first period, the Cardinals were only outscored once over the next three quarters.

“We came back a little bit and had it within 11,” Ebel said. “We relaxed a little bit. But we couldn’t stay consistent. We couldn’t do it three or four times down.”

Freshman Riley Hiebert led the way offensively, scoring 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Hiebert has now scored in double figures in each of her first two games of her high school career.

Afterward, Hiebert admitted she is still trying to adjust to the varsity level.

“I did some things good, I need to do a better job of keeping my head up,” Hiebert said. “(It’s tough for) me being a freshman and playing against older senior girls that are really good. They are aggressive and good at ball handling.”

Though much of the roster is made up of young players, EHS still has the firepower on the offensive end, which was displayed in the team’s 43-39 win in the season opener.

This time around, only five players netted a basket, while nobody other than Hiebert reached double digits. Catherine Grosdidier battled with foul trouble and ended up with eight points. As did Watson, who scored six.

Junior Nicole Whitten and freshman Reagan Hiebert each were able to notch a bucket as well on an otherwise off night.

“After our big win Friday night against Spring Hill we were excited,” Ebel said. “We will bounce back and we will play hard again tomorrow night.”

Eudora will continue the tournament Tuesday with a matchup against Harrisonville (Mo.) at 6:30 p.m in the Eudora gym.

St. James (47)

Emily Kaufman 5-12 3-5 14, Torri Kempf 1-1 0-1 2, Brianna Steeler 1-1 0-1 2, Courtney Setter 3-6 0-2 6, Maddie Russell 1-1 0-0 3, Audrey Jones 2-8 1-2 4, Karissa Duker 0-2 0-0 0, Mary Goetz 0-7 3-6 3, Katelyn Hall 4-7 0-0 10, Anna Feldkamp 0-4 2-4 2. Totals: 17-49 9-19 47.

Eudora (33)

Reagan Hiebert 0-1 0-0 3, Riley Hiebert 5-9 2-2 13, Devin Purcell 0-4 0-0 0, Emily Watson 3-11 0-0 6, Katelynn Ormsby 0-3 0-2 0, Nicole Whitten 1-1 0-0 2, Catherine Grosdidier 4-9 0-1 8, Alaina Howe 0-4 0-0 0, Madison Roether 0-1 1-2. Totals: 13-43 3-7 33.

St. James 13 9 16 9 — 47

Eudora 2 9 9 13 — 33

Three-point goals: St. James 4-20 (Kaufman 1, Russell 1, Hall 2); Eudora 2-11 (Reagan Hiebert 1, Riley Hiebert 1). Turnovers: St. James 15, Eudora 16. Fouled out: Grosdidier.