fter having the first half of its Sierra Foothill League schedule dotted with near misses, the Del Oro Lady Eagles girls basketball team drew a line in the sand last Friday night.

Hosting Whitney to begin the second round of SFL play, the Lady Eagles battened down the hatches and turned to a strong defensive performance to key a gritty 54-40 win over the Wildcats, who had entered the game in sole possession of second place.

Del Oro, just 1-4 through the first round of SFL action, limited the Wildcats to 32 points through the first three quarters of play and then put the hammer down by allowing just eight over the final stanza.

“We had a great week of practice building up to the game,” said Del Oro coach Shawn Huckaby. “A lot of our focus was on the defensive side and it paid off. It was a good team win.” 

The Lady Eagles, who led 16-10 after a quarter and 36-20 at intermission, was paced by junior Madison Parry’s 20-point, 12-rebound effort. Also playing well in the win was senior guard Jenna Duley with 14 points and four rebounds.

Katie Neal with 10 points and freshman Madison Butcher with five added more punch to the Lady Eagles’ attack. 

Whitney scoring leader Jada Lewis, who torched Del Oro for 24 points in the Wildcats’ 65-61 win over the Lady Eagles in the two teams’ first meeting, was limited to just 14 points in Friday’s game.

Del Oro entertains Rocklin at 5:30 p.m. Friday night.