In their last home game of the season Friday night, the Horizon Honors Eagles got off to a slow start and despite outplaying their opponent the entire second half, lost to Gilbert Christian 52-34.

Gilbert Christian came out strong and led the Eagles 24-3 at the end of the first quarter.

“It was the overall drive to win Senior Night for us, and a lot of our momentum comes from me, Piper (Corey) and Kendall (Santacruz) scoring, so once we started to get into the groove everyone followed,” said Pilar Rivera, a senior captain for Horizon Honors.

That strong Gilbert Christian offense didn’t stop the Eagles from fighting back as they started to pick up momentum going into the second quarter.

“We finally just started to get some shots to drop,” head coach Nate Agostini said. “We couldn’t put anything through in the first quarter, but second quarter shots started to fall and the girls started to get more confident.”

The Eagles came back after halftime with a more aggressive approach, scoring 16 points, but that still wasn’t enough to top Gilbert Christian.

“They are a very good team, and we played with them the second, third and fourth quarters. It just came down to how we started the game,” Agostini said.

Rivera and Santacruz led the Eagles with 12 points apiece, and Corey added eight.

Despite the loss, emotions were high as it was obvious the main focus was on celebrating the three Horizon Honor seniors -- Rivera, Kendra Fuller and Rebecca Knight -- as their high school careers are coming to an end.

"Senior Night really brought our team together to celebrate the end of the season, but also how we are just one big family,"  Knight said.

As an Eagles tradition, the players read special notes in front of the seniors' families after the game in a private room. 

"The support we have and the encouragment we get has meant everything," Knight added. 

With no playoff potential for the Eagles (5-13, 2-8), they are looking to get a win at the regional tournament on Wednesday against Odyssey Institute at 4:30 p.m.

“The biggest thing we are hoping to bring into that is intensity. I want to be able to start strong and fight as long as we can,” Rivera said.

Gilbert Christian (11-5, 4-2) plays on Monday at American Leadership Academy (14-1, 5-0).