Gary Lemle's goal when he took over Eastwood's girls basketball program last spring was to make the Eagles a dominant program once again.

He knew it would take baby steps – the Eagles were 2-19 last season – but Lemle said this year's team is on the right track. Eastwood started the season 0-5 but went on to win four of its next five games.

“My goal is to return the program to where it should be,” Lemle said. “Winning brings excitement and enthusiasm. Even though our record doesn't reflect it, we're playing some pretty darn good basketball.”

The Eagles were 4-8 and 2-5 in the Northern Buckeye Conference heading into Thursday's home game against Otsego.

“We won four out of our first 10 games, and I think that was huge for our confidence,” Lemle said. “Our first win of the year came against one of our biggest rivals, Elmwood (55-51), which was big. We were down at halftime and came back to win it.”

This year's squad is getting contributions from several players, including senior point guard Madi Renollet. She hit two free throws with eight seconds left to ice the game in the win over Elmwood.

“Her being a senior, it's always good to see kids do that,” said Lemle, who turned 50 on Tuesday.

The Eagles' other wins have come against Swanton, Lakota and Fostoria. Lemle said two things that have impressed him this season are the team's willingness to learn and its work ethic. This year's seniors are playing for their third head coach.

“Last year they got blown out in every (loss),” Lemle said. “They lost to Lake by 35 and 21 points; last Friday we played Lake at Owens and we only lost by five. One of our league losses was in overtime against Genoa. This year we're in every game, and that's a step in the right direction. We're rapidly closing the gap on everyone.”

Eastwood's top scorer, senior wing Alanna Heestand, averages 10 points a game and is shooting 33 percent from 3-point range.

“We ask her to do a lot,” Lemle said. “She's made 20 3-pointers this year. She's a streaky shooter, like most outside shooters are. I'm getting points out of everybody and we're playing a lot of kids, basically because they deserve to play.”

Senior post Courtney Rolf leads the Eagles in rebounding (8.0 rpg.) and is scoring seven points a game.

“She's a good leader. The kids listen to her,” Lemle said. “She's one of our captains along with Hannah Hirzel, who didn't play last year due to an ACL injury. Courtney leads by example. She's a tireless worker. All of these kids are hard workers. If we have a practice at 6 o'clock, they're there at 5:30. They're eager to learn and they work, work, work.”

Lemle added that junior forward Presley Weaver “has really improved since the beginning of the season. Weaver scored a career-high 16 points in the win over Lakota.

“That was like a coming-out party for her,” Lemle said. “She has a twin sister on the team, Kelsey, and next year I think they're going to be breakout players for us.”

Lemle said he would like to see the Eagles improve offensively. Eastwood is averaging less than 41 points a game and shooting just 39 percent from two-point range.

“Those numbers need to be higher,” he said. “We need to be around the 50 (point) mark. Our league is pretty competitive. It's a logjam at the top.”

Lemle, who enjoyed several successful seasons as the girls' coach at Cardinal Stritch, is seven wins shy of 100 career victories. He said getting back into coaching after taking last season off was a good decision.

“I'm having a ball,” he said. “I'm enjoying every minute of it. I'd like to get a few more wins here at the end of the year. I'm at 93 right now, and I couldn't think of a better group I could get my 100th win with. I'm just enjoying this group immensely.”

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