LocalSportsJournal.com
The Kent City girls’ basketball team fell just short of a trip to the state quarterfinals with a painful 31-30 loss to Grand Rapids Covenant 
Christian in the Class C regional finals Thursday at Morley-Stanwood High School.
The Eagles had a chance to win at the end, but missed a key free throw with six seconds left, then failed to get a shot off as the clock expired.
Kent City, co-champions of the Central State Activities Association Silver Division, finished the season at 20-4.
“My team played fantastic defense because we got beat by 20 earlier in the year by Covenant Christian,” said Kent City Coach Scott Carlson. “We put ourselves in every position to win tonight by playing hard and smart.”
The Eagles got off to a hopeful start, leading 16-7 after the first quarter and 19-12 at halftime.
Covenant Christian chipped away at its deficit in the third quarter, leaving Kent City with a 26-25 edge heading into the fourth.
Covenant made two free throws to take a 31-30 lead with 40 seconds left.
Kent City went to the free throw line with six seconds remaining, but the front end of a one-and-one was missed. Covenant Christian grabbed the rebound and the Eagles immediately fouled to stop the clock.
Kent City stole Covenant’s Christian inbound pass but was unable to get a shot off as time expired.
Meghan Boyd led the Eagles with 18 points on the night.
