A 49-31 loss to Ariton on Friday dashed the Goshen Lady Eagles’ hopes of wining their own holiday tournament.

After defeating Brantley on Monday, the Eagles fell flat on Friday, according to the Eagles assistant coach Taisha Jackson.

“Tonight we could have given a better effort,” Jackson said. “We have a young team, and they will continue to grow and learn.”

The Eagles stuck with the Purple Cats until the latter stages of the fourth quarter. Jackson said the Eagles’ struggle to make shots from close range made the difference.

“We didn’t get a rhythm out there tonight,” Jackson said. “That was the difference in the game.”

The Purple Cats jumped out to an early lead but that was quickly erased when Mary Pettway drained a three and Jada Hall sunk another basket to bring the Bulldogs to within just two points at 9-7 heading into the second quarter.

The Purple Cats tried to push their lead out a little bit more but Bre Griffin and Amber Tillery kept the Bulldogs within eight before they were able to dwindle their deficit down to five at halftime.

The third quarter brought turnovers and missed shots. The Eagle defense was able to hold the Purple Cats to just seven points in the third quarter, but Goshen was able to score nine themselves and went into the final period down 28-.

The game stayed close until 5:54 when the Purple Cats drained a big three pointer from the corner to put them up 34-27.

The Eagles never recovered and were outscored by Ariton 15-4 in the remaining time.

“We need to think about what we did good tonight and what we didn’t do well and get better,” Jackson said.

The Eagles will play G.W. Long this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in the new gym in the battle for third place.