The Jamestown Eagles girls basketball team (7-12) lost a close game Feb. 4, falling to the Pilot Grove Tigers (12-7) 62-52.
Jamestown led 4-3 with less than 6:00 left in the first quarter. A basket by Ginna Meisenheimer made it an 8-3 game with less than 4:00 left in the opening period. Pilot Grove answered by going on a 5-2 run to cut the lead down to two points at 10-8 with less than 1:00 to go. Baskets by Meisenheimer and Maddie Sedgwick in the final seconds of the quarter gave the Eagles a 14-8 lead at the end of the quarter.
In the second quarter, the two teams traded baskets throughout. With less than 7:00 left before halftime, the Eagles led 18-11. The Tigers answered again, this time with a 7-3 run, to make it a 21-18 game with just less than 4:00 left in the first half. The game ended up being tied at 22 with around 2:30 left in the quarter. Meisenheimer then scored a basket that gave the Eagles a 24-22 lead, but Pilot Grove tied the game up again at 24. The Eagles trailed 26-24 with less than 2:00 left in the period, but the Eagles were able to tie the game at 27 right before halftime.
The Eagles took the lead early on after the halftime break after a three-pointer by Kylee Russell made it 30-27 with around 7:00 left in the third quarter. Pilot Grove went on a 6-2 run to take a 33-32 lead with just more than 5:00 left in the quarter. Jamestown retook the lead at 34-33, but Pilot Grove went on a 9-1 run, giving themselves a 43-34 lead with around 3:00 left in the quarter. With less than 1:00 left in the quarter, the Eagles trailed 47-37, but a three-pointer by Meisenheimer made it a 47-40 game right before the end of the quarter.
The Eagles cut the Tigers' lead down to six points at 47-41 early in the final quarter, but Pilot Grove went on another run, scoring eight unanswered points to make it a 55-41 game with 5:30 left on the clock. Jamestown was able to make it a 10-point game at 55-45 with around 3:40 left before the buzzer, but the Eagles were not able to cut the lead into single digits as Pilot Grove did enough to stay in control and bring an end to the game.
While Jamestown did not commit too many turnovers in the first half, the Eagles lost the ball 16 times in the second half.
Ginna Meisenheimer led the Eagles with 23 points, followed by Maddie Sedgwick with 11 points and Kylee Russell with five points.
The Eagles' next game is at 6 p.m. Feb. 11 against NW-Hughesville.