seniors’ career when they knocked off St. Gertrude and they’ve played a lot of D1 squads with their challenging LIS slate. The emergence of freshman Ella Dalton running the point (7.0 points and 3.8 assists per game) and sophomore Briana Boland as another rebounder (4.7 boards per game) has helped in a big way. Both seniors have become more polished players in recent years too, with Meakem increasing her shooting accuracy and ability to score off the dribble. Her overall field goal percentage rose over the last two years (from 33 percent as a sophomore to 42 as a junior to 44 as a senior) despite the fact that she’s already taken nearly as many 3-pointers as she did as a junior. Maupin has made huge strides on the perimeter herself, going from 17 percent from beyond the arc as a junior to 32 percent this season without losing much at all on the boards where she’s still averaging nearly 20 rebounds per contest. She’s also hitting 56 percent of her shots inside the arc, another significant gain over last season despite continuing to get massive attention from opposing defenses. She’s become the school’s all-time leading scorer, broken the career 2,000-point barrier and the career 1,500-rebound mark. Meakem reached the 1,000-point mark for her career too just recently. There’s a sense of urgency too with time winding down on Meakem and Maupin’s careers. They’re not pressing but it all seems to have clicked, even against top notch competition like STAB and Trinity Episcopal where the Eagles lost, but brought a level of intensity and polish that hasn’t always been there. They took Jefferson District regular season champion Charlottesvile to double overtime. “They’re trusting what we’re working on in the game,” Watson said. “Now their eyes are opening up, they’re trusting themselves and their trusting each other.” That’s what it takes, and like Maupin committing to Elon, it’s what’s making years of blood, sweat and years worth it. Meakem and Maupin started as talents, they found ways to complement each other and they’ve grown into leaders for Covenant. Maybe they’d be completely different players and people if they hadn’t come together, but it’s pretty clear that neither one would want it any other way. In this case, two are much stronger than one. ✖
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