Willie Nelson's classic "On the Road Again" begins with these words, "On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again...seein' things that I may never see again." It is doubtful that the ACGC basketball teams will adopt Nelson's song as their theme song, especially after the Charger teams both suffered thirty-four point road losses at the hands of the Earlham Cardinals last night. Charger players and fans alike can only hope that last night's drubbings were "things that (they) may never see again."

Both Charger teams appeared shell shocked as the Cardinals raced to big first quarter leads, putting aside any doubt as to the outcome of either game. The Earlham girls knocked down three consecutive long balls within the first three minutes of the game to take an early lead of 9-0 and a 16-6 first quarter lead en route to their 62-28 win. The Charger boys fared no better, falling behind 21-7 after the first stanza in their 74-40 loss.

As this writer watched the games and later poured over the games' statistics, those stats really tell the story. So, lets' turn to those numbers. The Charger girls' shot 17% for the game, making just 8 field goals out of 46 attempts and were 0-12 from beyond the three point line. From the free throw line they hit on 12 of 25 attempts for 48%. Unofficial stats, by contrast, show Earlham shooting 45% from the field, including 7 three pointers, and 63% from the charity stripe. Twenty Charger turnovers resulted in twenty-two Cardinal points.

Individually, no Charger girl scored in double figures last night, with Olivia Laabs and Morgan Meachem leading the scoring at 6 points each. Jorja Hoover grabbed 6 rebounds, and Savana Fuller had 3 steals. No Charger had more than one assist.

Charger girls' mentor Aaron Dose offered these comments after the game. "I think we need to continue to work hard. Christmas break will be a time for developing skills and mental toughness. We need to stay positive as we look for our first win."

In the boys' game, Earlham raced to an early 10-1 lead from which the Chargers never recovered. Again, the numbers were pretty one sided, as Earlham shot 54% from the field and the Chargers were 16 of 50 for 32% and 4 of 18 on three point attempts. The Cardinals were 5 of 8 from the free throw line and ACGC was 4 of 9. Turnovers again played a big role in the outcome, as the Cardinals forced 22 Charger turnovers resulting in 25 Earlham points.

Two Chargers scored in double figures last night, with Caden Wardyn netting 17 points on 50% shooting and Quynton Younker adding 11, also shooting 50% for the night. Wardyn snared 9 rebounds and Will Byars had 6, while Noah Nelson led the team in assists with 4.

Probably the best thing that our round ballers can do is to forget about last night. The most important game is the next one, not the last one.

The losses drop the girls' record to 0-7 overall, and 0-5 in WCAC play, while the the boys' fall to to 3-4 on the season, 2-3 in the conference.

There is little time for the licking of wounds as the Chargers face Des Moines Christian tonight on the Charger hard court in a WCAC contest. A freshman boys' game will be the preliminary matchup at 4:30 PM, with varsity girls' and boys' action to begin at 6 and 7:30 respectively.

Girls' Sore by Quarters Boys' Sore by Quarters

ACGC 6 2 13 7--28 ACGC 6 10 11 13--40

Earl. 16 13 22 11--62 Earl. 21 19 21 13--74

Box Score REB Box Score REB

FG 3Pt FT O-D AST STL TP FG 3Pt FT O-D AST STL TP

Fuller 1-3 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 3 2 Sargent 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 2

Laabs 2-9 0-1 2-6 2-2 1 1 6 Nelson 0-2 0-1 0-0 1-1 4 2 0

Smith 0-6 0-3 3-4 0-3 1 0 3 Spack 1-4 1-2 0-0 0-1 1 0 3

Embleton 0-3 0-3 1-2 0-0 1 1 1 Byars 0-4 0-0 1-2 3-3 0 1 1

J. Hoover 0-4 0-1 0-0 1-5 1 0 0 Wheatley 0-2 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 0 0

Young 1-3 0-1 1-3 2-1 1 1 3 Littler 1-7 0-4 0-0 1-1 2 2 2

Carrick 1-7 0-1 3-6 0-2 1 0 5 Wardyn 7-14 2-5 1-2 3-6 0 1 17

Meaachem 2-6 0-0 2-4 0-3 0 2 6 Madsen 1-2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 2

Sargent 1-2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 Younker 4-8 1-4 2-4 0-5 0 2 11

G. Hoover 0-2 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Stowe 1-6 0-0 0-0 4-1 0 0 2

Caltrider 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0