The Ellwood Christian Academy Lady Eagles couldn’t keep pace with the Francis Marion Lady Rams in Friday’s 54-21 home loss.

Matthews Williams, Jr., head girls basketball coach of Ellwood Christian (1-8), said the Lady Eagles still haven’t quite come together offensively.

“We just haven’t put our offense together. We’re not working in sync on offense,” Williams said. “We play fairly decent defense, but the offense is sputtering a lot. If we can get our offense together and get the right chemistry, we’ll be alright.”

The Lady Rams (5-8) jumped out to a 16-6 lead early in the second quarter until Ellwood’s Ebony Simpson hit a shot in the paint to cut it to 16-8 with 4:06 left in the first half.

Chasity Minter scored on a layup and Simpson made another basket to bring the Lady Eagles closer at 16-10, but Francis Marion’s Moesha Gayles scored on a layup to make it 18-10 with 2:51 remaining in the first half.

The Lady Rams closed the first half on a 10-0 run with Chelsea Williams scoring four points in that stretch.

Simspon scored five points to open the second half and made it a 28-15 game, but the Lady Rams dominated the third and took a 42-20 lead into the fourth quarter.

Simpson led Ellwood with 12 points, while Minter had 4 points.

Williams led the Lady Rams with 12 points, while Gayles and Chelsea Jackson each had 8 points for the Lady Rams.

Ellwood will take the floor again Thursday at Francis Marion starting at 5 p.m.