El Dorado Grabs a Share of Empire Title

The initials G.R. on the shorts were there to honor the late El Dorado coach, Gary Raya, who died in the off-season at age 29 after teaching his players how to win.

And Thursday night, in front of a nearly full house at El Dorado, the Golden Hawk players drew on that strength, scoring a 49-41 victory over Century to win a share of the Empire League girls’ basketball title for the second year in a row.

El Dorado finished at 17-5, 9-1; Century is 21-3, 9-1.

El Dorado was embarrassed, 43-34, the last time the teams met, and gave up 21 points to 6-foot-2 freshman Aprile Powell.

But things were different this time.

“It was pretty emotional,” El Dorado’s Jamie Nebeker said after scoring 18 points, nearly double her average. “This was our goal the whole season, to do it for Gary.

“This was very special. I don’t think we’ll forget this game.”

A box-and-one defense limited Powell (averaging 17.6 points, 11.3 rebounds) to six points and seven rebounds. The defender who cut Powell down to size was Yvette deBruijn, who gave away 11 inches and created a mismatch.

DeBruijn, in a rare start, was given specific duties by Coach Tara Brown: “We told her, shut [Powell] down, hold her below her average and box her out.”

DeBruijn (four points, three rebounds, one steal) did that in the game of her life. She was one of the primary reasons Century committed 12 first-half turnovers as El Dorado took a 26-13 lead while making 10 of 21 field goals.

El Dorado shut down Century inside, but Addie Alexander responded with five three-pointers and 17 points--by sagging in against Powell and 6-2 Allison Napier (eight points, five rebounds). Napier was averaging 12.4 points and nine rebounds.