Despite losing all three games, participating in the Straughn Thanksgiving Tournament was a good thing for the Goshen Lady Eagles.

“We had big time teams,” said head coach Fred Lowery. “We rose to the occasion. It didn’t matter if were playing 4A teams or 5A teams we were just playing basketball. It’s all about getting better right now.”

The Lady Eagles lost to Straughn 48-41, Luverne 81-78 and Andalusia 65-59.

In the game against Luverne, the Eagles dominated throughout the first three quarters and seemed prime to walk away with the win. After a poor fourth quarter performance by the Eagles, the Tigers pushed the game into overtime and got the win.

“We played three quarters,” Lowery said. “We have to play four quarters for us to be successful. We were on pace to win. I don’t know if we got big headed and we started to celebrate too soon. We had a horrible fourth quarter; we need to learn to finish.”

Marry Pettway, a key player for Goshen, fouled-out in the game. “That really hurt us,” Lowery said. “We controlled the basketball game until the fourth quarter.”

In game two against 4A Andalusia, the Eagles struggled against a fast-paced Bulldogs.

“We played well, we were just an undersized team going up against a 4A school,” Lowery said. “They are a very well coached basketball team. They played man all game and we are not going to see that all the time.”

Missed free throws from some key players made the difference in the final game for the Eagles.

“We had it set up to be victorious,” Lowery said. “We got to the free throw line and we couldn’t make free throws. With the game on the line we had clutch free throw shooters missing.”

Bre Griffin led the way in scoring for the Eagles against Luverne on Tuesday. She put up 49 of the team’s 81 points. Griffin followed pace in game two and put up 30 points in the loss to Andalusia.