The Liberty Christian basketball teams notched wins in the season’s first week. 

The Liberty Christian Lady Eagles (2-0) beat Providence Classical Christian Academy 81-25. They went on a 12-0 run in the first quarter to take an 18-2 lead with about 3:24 remaining in the quarter. They led 36-9 after the first quarter and 59-11 at halftime. 

“They were a little down this year and we did what we should have done,” Liberty Chrstian basketball coach Butch Clark said. “I thought our defense was ok and we moved the ball. We’ve got work to do on offense to run the halfcourt offense. But our transition was pretty good. And Alli (Meyer) did a good job pushing the ball and getting it. Really, I thought all the kids did a fairly decent job.”

Four Lady Eagles reached double figures in points in the win. Senior Anna Meyer led the Lady Eagles in scoring with 31 points. Senior Kylee Ball and sophomore Lauren Moss both recorded double-doubles in the win. Moss finished with 20 points and 10 steals. Ball had 12 points and led the Lady Eagles with 12 rebounds. Alli Meyer scored 16 points. She added six rebounds, six assists and five steals. 

Clark noted he has four players back from last year’s team who know what he expects. It will take time for the inexperienced players to understand what he expects. 

He said even though this year’s team does not have the size of last year’s team, he likes the quickness on this year’s team. 

We’ve got a lot of things to work on,” Clark said. “It’s not coming along as fast when you’ve got that many new kids. Last year, we had everyone back. It was real easy on the girls. They all knew what they were doing. We started off the year building from where we ended up. We don’t have that luxury this year on either side. We might be a few more weeks away.”

The Lady Eagles followed up their season opening win with a 61-14 win over Crosspoint Christian. Ball, Moss, Anna Meyer and Alli Meyer all scored at least 10 points in the win. Anna Meyer led the Lady Eagles in scoring with 24 points. Ball registered the Lady Eagles’ lone double-double of the game. She scored 10 points and had 13 rebounds. Moss scored 14 points and Alli Meyer scored 12 points.

The Liberty Christian boys basketball team rebounded from a loss in their season opener with a win over Cross Point Christian.

Liberty Christian (1-1) beat Crosspoint Christian 70-28 last week to earn their first win of the season. 

Liberty Christian senior Zach Dames recorded his second double-double of the season in the Eagles’ first win of the season over Crosspoint Christian. Dames finished tied for the team lead with 23 points. He led the Eagles with 18 rebounds and six assists. After missing the season opener, junior Jack Duvel scored 23 points for Liberty Christian. Sophomore Clinton Queen also reached double figures in the win. He scored 11 points.

Earlier last week, the Eagles dropped their season opener to Providence Classical Christian Academy  59-55. Liberty Christian played the season opener without multiple starters. 

The Eagles trimmed a nine point fourth quarter deficit to three points in the loss. The Eagles played the game without freshman Tommy Meyer and Duvel due to an injury and an illness.

Liberty Christian basketball coach Butch Clark thinks the Eagles got tired later in the game. He thinks this is a game the Eagles probably win if they were at full strength. 

“I wouldn’t say we should have won it but we could have won it,” Clark said. “We sure had enough opportunities. We missed some shots that you don’t want to miss. Layups and free throws. And then a stupid play where we didn’t come out and play defense on our end when they give them the ball in the second half.”

The Eagles and Panthers were tied at 16 after one quarter. The Eagles trailed by one at halftime. The Panthers started the third quarter on a 9-1 run to take an eight point lead. The Eagles mounted multiple comebacks in the third and fourth quarter but were unable to tie the game or regain the lead. 

“We were missing our point guard tonight,” Clark said. “We were missing one of our better scorers and probably somebody that’s going to be one of our top first or second leading scorer. You take that out of your lineup, it makes a lot of difference. I thought the other guys stepped up and did a pretty good job.”

Dames and freshman Willie Mueller each recorded a double-double in the loss. Dames led the Eagles with 21 points and added 15 rebounds. Mueller scored 13 points and led the Eagles with 18 rebounds. Mueller also led the Eagles with eight assists. 

Junior Brody Kuehn and eighth grader Phoenix Oberman each scored nine points in the loss. 

The Liberty Christian basketball teams hosted St. Louis Christian Home School Tuesday. They are set to host Heritage Classical Christian Academy Friday. The games are slated for 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Friday.