A late-season run generated some renewed optimism for the Grove City Christian School girls basketball team.

After losing six consecutive games to begin the season, the Eagles started to adjust under first-year coach Elizabeth Morris and ended the regular season by winning two consecutive games and three of their last five.

The Eagles finished the regular season 7-13 overall and 4-8 in the MOCAL.

Kathryn Juarez, a senior forward, played a key role in the Eagles’ resurgence.

“We definitely got a lot better,” Juarez said. “Our teamwork together has been really excellent. I know last year we had some problems getting along, but this year we’ve really been acting like really good friends and our teamwork has been amazing.”

Grove City Christian, the 15th seed, opened the Division IV district tournament on Feb. 15 by playing MOCAL-foe Tree of Life, the fourth seed, in a first-round game.

The winner will play 10th-seeded Danville in the second round on Feb. 24 at Lakewood.

Grove City Christian finished fifth in the MOCAL behind Tree of Life (12-0), Fairfield Christian (9-3), Gahanna Christian (8-4) and Delaware Christian (7-5) and ahead of Granville Christian (3-9) and Madison Christian (1-11).

Grove City Christian won both games against Madison Christian, 64-55 on Dec. 15 and 54-41 on Jan. 20. The Eagles also defeated Gahanna Christian 54-46 on Jan. 3 and Granville Christian 48-43 on Feb. 3.

Grove City Christian closed the regular season by defeating Granville Christian and Village Academy 44-29 on Feb. 7.

Against Granville Christian, freshman Lisa Zeller scored 19 points and senior Shelby Mayeran added 15.

Against Village Academy, Zeller scored 17 points and Mayeran had 12.

“I have enjoyed every minute of this season,” Morris said. “The girls have been great, especially my seniors (Mayeran and Juarez). I couldn’t have asked for two better seniors for my first season.”

•The boys basketball team will prepare for the Division IV district tournament by playing Village Academy on Thursday, Feb. 16, and Division III North Union on Friday, Feb. 17.

The Eagles were 3-14 overall before playing Worthington Christian on Feb. 14.

Grove City Christian opens the district tournament Feb. 23 with a first-round game against a fellow MOCAL program in third-seeded Fairfield Christian.

“I’m definitely looking forward to the tournament only because I still don’t believe we have played our best basketball yet,” coach Chris Timlin said. “I have little doubt in my mind that this team has the personnel to win a couple of games and scare teams. I don’t know that we’re a team that other teams want to play come tournament time.”

The Eagles finished 2-10 in the MOCAL with a 53-45 loss Feb. 10 to Granville Christian. Junior Derek Vaughn scored 12 points.

“I think January took its toll on our group considering how young they are,” Timlin said. “We lost a lot of close games in January. I thought at times we looked a little tired, both mentally and physically. Considering the youth within our program right now, I wasn’t really surprised by that.”

Grove City Christian lost to Fairfield Christian 63-43 on Feb. 2. Vaughn scored 12 points.

Gahanna Christian defeated Grove City Christian 78-54 on Feb. 4. Ben Whitaker scored 12 points.

With Whitaker and Casey Fisher being the only seniors on the team, Timlin is expecting a solid nucleus to return next season.

Sophomore point guard Michael Howard should be one of those key players.

“I’ve seen a lot of improvement,” Howard said. “We’re a really young team. We have four sophomores on varsity and we’re getting a lot of experience in. We’re really coming together at the end of the year and hopefully we can grab a couple more wins.”