Ellwood Christian Academy coach Carl Rawls came out with his team down at the half to Dixie Academy with one simple message, “Win the third quarter.”

The Eagles did just that, scoring fifteen in the third before going on to win 44-37.

Ellwood played light out defense in the second half, making up for subpar shooting to advance to the AISA class A championship game for the first time ever.

““We fought and that’s what it take to win championships,” Rawls. “I’m proud of these kids. We’ve been here four years in a row and this is the first time we’ve made it to the championship game. I just told them thank you and we got one more game. It’s another business day tomorrow.”

The Eagles fell behind early thanks to solid shooting from Dixie, and before they knew it went into the half trailing by five and looking a little lost.

But Ellwood clawed and fought the second half, battling themselves more than Dixie with multiple missed opportunities from right under the basket which could have put the game out of hand in the second half.

“I told them we should have won the game by 15 to 20 points and usually we make those shots and get one or two dunks, but for some reason basketball is funny because we just couldn’t hit the shots,” Rawls said. I knew we were quicker than they were and we penetrated, were getting good shots and had the right people on the block and were just missing the shots. But tomorrow cannot be like today.”

Senior guard Glentravious Olds led the Eagles with 16 points and Travoris Sheppard and Shanvarious Holeman both added 11.

The Eagles (19-5) will face Crenshaw Christian Academy (20-7) today at 1:30 p.m.

Ellwood fell to Crenshaw in their previous two meetings, but Olds said the team would be ready.

“We have to cover their guard,” said Olds. “

He does a great job of getting penetration. If we can do that, I think we have a great chance of winning even though they have beaten us twice before.”