Despite an improved effort, the Union Lady Spartans lost to the Rosewood Eagles 60-38 on Thursday.

The Spartans team has had a rough start this season, losing Thursday after a 46-26 loss to Princeton Tuesday. The Union girls have some rough patches to iron out, but they’re still showing improvement, their coach said.

“I feel much better with our effort tonight,” said head coach Bryant Register. “Rosewood is an excellent team, well coached and schooled well in fundamentals. But I think, as you begin building things, you see steps of progression and though the scoreboard didn’t show it, I felt we made great progression tonight.”

With the first half of the game against Rosewood ending at 25-10, the Eagles had effectively doubled up the Spartans. With this being the Lady Spartans’ second conference game of the season, the pressure was already on early.

As the second half began with the third quarter, the Spartans quickly got to work bringing the score to 27-13, but this burst of energy initially did little to impact the score as Union fell behind to 29-13. In a sudden burst of energy, Union scored back to back bringing the difference to 29-18.

As the final quarter began to quickly advance, the Spartans had began to strengthen their defense but the Eagles were simply too far ahead. While the fight was impressive until the very end, Union simply could not close the gap fast enough to turn the game around, resulting in the final score of 60-38.

“I loved our effort and intensity,” said Register. “We made some runs at them but we couldn’t maintain it through the whole game.”

Union falls to 1-5 overall, 1-1 in conference. It is Register’s hope that energy will carry them forward in their game against West Bladen on Monday, again on the Spartans’ home court.

The Spartans’ Amaya Jackson blocks the way to the basket in their game Thursday night against the Rosewood Eagles.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_uvrwbball.jpgThe Spartans’ Amaya Jackson blocks the way to the basket in their game Thursday night against the Rosewood Eagles.

Kaia Johnson of Union obscures the view for a Rosewood player during an inbounds pass on the baseline.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_uvrwbball1.jpgKaia Johnson of Union obscures the view for a Rosewood player during an inbounds pass on the baseline.

By Chris Froat

Sports Writer

Reach Chris Froat at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @SampsonInd.