By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

CALERA – There may still be eight games left on Calera’s 2016-17 basketball schedule, but thanks to such a strong start in area play, the Lady Eagles’ basketball squad has already locked up the regular season championship for Class 5A Area 6.

Calera’s overall record is nothing spectacular at 8-9, but what has been so impressive is that they have run through area play starting the season 5-0 with just one game against Marbury left to be played. Since they have beaten every team, but Marbury twice (who has two area losses) and the most the Eagles can lose is one area game, they have sealed up the championship and will host the girls side of the area championship.

They locked up the title with a win over Dallas County back on Jan. 13 and did so in impressive fashion almost doubling up the Hornets 45-27, and it really wasn’t even that close.

The Eagles jumped out of the gate in the first quarter on an 11-4 run to take early control of the game. They continued to press the matter in the second quarter as the defense held them to just six points in the quarter and 10 total in the first half.

Calera found even more offense in the quarter and put up 16 points to take a 27-10 halftime lead.

This trend continued into the second half as the Lady Eagles held Dallas County to less than 10 points for the third consecutive quarter as they outscored the Hornets 12-7 in the third. With the great defensive effort Calera found themselves up 39-17, which pretty much put the game out of reach heading into the final frame of play.

The Eagles were outscored in the fourth quarter, but still only gave up 10 points while scoring six, which easily gave Calera their fifth area win of the season and second over the Hornets.

Sarrah Goodwin led the Eagles with 17 points in the game, while Charley Clark and Abrianna Davis added nine and eight, respectively. Tylana Wimberly led Calera with eight rebounds, while Goodwin and Macorsha Purifoy both added six.