The Lady Eagles will play the Palo Duro Dons 6 p.m. today at home after defeating the Lady Herd at the buzzer with a score of 40-37 Jan. 12 in Hereford.

Junior Angel Hayden scored the winning layup and free throw to push the Lady Eagles ahead three points with .92 seconds left in the fourth quarter.The Lady Eagles were 12-0 in preseason before competing in the Mansfield Tournament Dec. 28, 29, 30. They received second place with a final score of 55-57 against Timberview. Head coach Joe Lombard said the loss helped the team recognize and work on their weak spots.

“That’s the neat thing about coaching–there is always something to work on,” Lombard said. “I think our offense is going through different stages this year, so we are constantly working on our offense. After our loss in the Mansfield Tournament, we realized we needed to rebound tougher, because it was a little bit of a weakness. Also, we are overcoming the loss of Caitlyn Cunyus. She is going to be out for a while with an ankle injury.  So we are trying to get the players in the best position to best help the team.”

Second year varsity player Paitlyn Tankersley said senior Cunyus’ ankle injury will be a learning experience for the Lady Eagles.

“It was a rough game not having our starting captain, Caitlyn Cunyus,” Tankersley said. “It messes with the team chemistry a little, but we are getting back on our feet and we still ended up winning by three.”

Lombard said after earning the title of state champions last year, he and his team began to prepare themselves for the coming season.

“It all started last spring, when we finished off last year’s team,” Lombard said. “We took about a month out of the gym. In that month, we started getting our thoughts going about what we wanted to do with this year’s team. So it started back in the spring as far as some planning, offenses and defenses. I met back with the team in the spring right before school was let out and then again when school started in the fall in August. We talked about team goals and we talked about gold standards for our team. So that combined with the early planning we did back in March set the stage for this coming year.”

Tankersley said that their success from last year has made them a prominent competitor for this season.

“Since we are defending state champions there are going to be targets on our backs,” Tankersley said. “Everyone wants to beat us, and everyone wants to knock us off the top just to see if they can.”

Lombard said he wants his players to end the season with more than just wins.

“Hopefully, they will have a satisfaction that they did the very best they could do,” Lombard said. “There is happiness in being with a group of people that have the same goal, and march towards that goal together. Hopefully it’s a great experience for the girls.”