After taking on a pair of difficult losses late in 2020, it is evident that the Golden Eagles, led by head coach Mike Domnick, have found a way to bounce back and  begin the long winning streak that I predicted just before the long Christmas break. You will rarely ever see the Golden Eagles suffer through more than two consecutive losses under the former state champion head coach who is well known for expecting nothing less than pure excellence.

Just like years past, the Golden Eagles are finding a way to become their best self after the aforementioned three week long extended break. It’s clear that the team is doing nothing but growing closer and continuing to realize their potential together. This is especially evident when you put into account that the team has won three straight games by over 10 total points following the team’s return, with the trio of Carter Reid, Enrique Lankford, and Alex Littlejohn scoring in the double digits respectively in all three contests.

Game Recaps:

1/8: Win vs Kapaun 64>51

You can’t discuss the Golden Eagles first matchup against the Kapaun Crusaders and call it anything other than highly contested. The Golden Eagles were able to jump out to a 10-point lead early on in the first quarter and despite some eventual rallies put forward by the Crusaders, it didn’t seem like the Carroll lead was ever in doubt. This was definitely a great motivator for the team, considering the fact that this team was able to put together an all-around impressive win against the team’s biggest rival.

The leading scorer for the Golden Eagles this past Friday was senior Enrique Lankford, who was able to put up a total of 17 points while shooting 55 % from the field, but not too far behind was fellow senior Alex Littlejohn who ended the night with 16 points, while shooting an identical 55 % from the field. Despite Enrique and Alex putting up a nearly identical game, Carter Reid was able to put up 10 total points while shooting a perfect 100% from the field, on four shots, including two total shots from behind the arc.

1/9: Win vs West 62>44

Of the three games played by the Golden Eagles this week, this matchup against the West Pioneers was perhaps the most dominant. Despite a relatively close and competitive first quarter, the Golden Eagles were able to get a huge lead following the impressive team feat of outscoring the Pioneers by a score of 22-4 in the second quarter alone. Following the aforementioned impressive second quarter, the Pioneers were seemingly never able to recover. The Golden Eagles were able to hold the roughly 15 point lead throughout the entire second half, enroute to an impressive and dominant performance.

Carter Reid had an excellent performance on the night, while scoring 17 total points accompanied by a 70 % field goal percentage on the night. Alex and Enrique were then able to put up 11 and 12 points respectively. Senior Preston Rottinghaus was also able to compile 10 points from the low block.

1/12: Win vs Northwest 65>50

The duo of Alex Littlejohn and Enrique Lankford was able to put together quite possibly their most impressive performance as a collective duo, accounting for 42 of the team’s 65 points. The Golden Eagles were able to consistently find ways to get the ball in the basket, enroute to the 15 point victory. If this team is able to consistently get these types of performances from Alex and Enrique, the sky’s the limit for this team.

Going Forward:

The Golden Eagles will have an eventful week, as they will be taking part in the teams annual Tournament week, with this years tournament being hosted by Dodge City. The Golden Eagles will be taking on Heights tonight in their lone out of tournament game of the week, but will turn around rather quickly with The Golden Eagles’ first matchup of the tournament taking place against Hutch on Tuesday. It is a good bet that tonight’s game against Heights will be a closely contested game, but it is hard to imagine that this team when fully healthy wouldn’t find a way to win at the end of the night. While in sharp contrast, the tournament opener against Hutch is highly favorable for Carroll. I predict another 20-20 scoring night for Alex and Enrique, to kick off the aforementioned Tournament. While its hard to predict the way that the Dodge City Tournament bracket will end up, its hard to imagine the Golden Eagles not being extremely successful over the course of the week, no matter the potential opponents. This team is getting in unison at just the right time and that is an extremely scary proposition for the rest of the 5A division.