ROCKFORD – The Eastland girls basketball team lost its first game of the season on Saturday in its first game at Boylan’s Reindeer Games, but in its second game it gained a new all-time leading scorer.

The Class 1A No. 1 Cougars fell 71-64 in overtime to Class 3A No. 9 Burlington Central to start the tournament before beating Dakota 66-44 hours later. Erin Henze scored 16 in the loss to Burlington Central and 18 in the win over Dakota, giving her 1,627 career points, breaking the program record previously held by Eastland coach Nicole Brinker.

“It’s really cool, obviously it’s cool to be coached by Brinker, who is such an amazing coach and that was her record,” Henze said. “But in all honesty, that’s not really the goal for this season. It is a great feeling. I’m happy to have my mom [former Eastland coach Colleen Finn-Henze] on the bench, too, as well as Brinker.”

Henze had heard earlier in the season that she was nearing the mark, but heading into the game against Dakota, she didn’t know just how close she was. After the Burlington Central game, she needed five points, and got there with a pull-up jumper late in the second quarter against Dakota.

“I made a basket, and my mom and a couple people in the stands started cheering a bit abnormally loud for just a normal basket,” she said. “I kind of put two and two together at that point.”

Brinker had a feeling watching Henze and fellow Eastland senior Lydia Coatney come up through the ranks over the past few years that her mark of 1,613 was not going to stand for much longer.

“That’s been my goal for her or Lydia since they were in junior high,” Brinker said. “Records are made to be broken. When I was playing, I wasn’t playing to set any records, it just happened. Erin wasn’t out to break any records, she just played basketball. That’s what makes it awesome. I can’t think of another kid to have broken it.”

Coatney added 19 points against Dakota, 14 of which came in the second half as the Cougars scored 22 in the third quarter and another 14 in the fourth to pull away. Talena Rogers added seven points. Karlie Krogman pulled in nine rebounds.

In the game against Burlington Central, Eastland pushed a 10-win team from Class 3A to overtime.

“We hadn’t had this competition all year, so for us to come and play a ranked 3A school, in the beginning we had the jitters, but once we knocked it out, we had to find our confidence,” Coatney said. “It was just a neck-and-neck game that we’re not used to yet this year.”

The game saw 16 lead changes and six ties. There were 12 instances of a team taking the lead or tying the score only to have the other team answer with a basket on the next possession to either force another tie or retake the lead.

The Cougars trailed by five late in regulation after Madelyn Menke hit a basket in the paint to make it 56-51. But Coatney answered with a 3-pointer on the next possession, capping a trip down the floor for Eastland that saw the Cougars grab three offensive rebounds. On Eastland’s next trip down the floor, Krogman found Meredith Janssen cutting toward the rim for another basket to tie the score and, moments later, Janssen came up with a steal near midcourt to give Eastland a chance to win it in regulation.

“That’s what Mere does, and she doesn’t get the recognition that she deserves,” Brinker said. “We had her on [Burlington Central forward Kathryn Schmidt], and Mere was tasked with that. She gets tasked with that dirty work a lot of times, and she takes it on 100%. I couldn’t be more proud of her. To get that score and then turn around and get the steal, that’s just what she does.”

Janssen finished the game with 10 points.

Given a chance to win it in regulation, Eastland never got a shot off. Henze tried to feed a pass into Coatney in the paint, but Burlington Central’s Zoey Kollhoff knocked it away, and the Cougars were unable to get a shot off after recovering the loose ball.

Eastland (15-1) briefly led in overtime after Coatney hit a floater in the lane, but a pair of free throws from Elana Wells and a 3-pointer from Liliana Moretti made it 62-58 Rockets.

Eastland got back within two as Coatney hit a pull-up jumper, but Moretti added a layup on the other end, and the Rockets closed out the game by hitting 7 of 8 from the free-throw line.

Wells finished with 27 points for the Rockets. Schmidt added 14.

Coatney led Eastland with 25. After being held to two points in the first quarter, she scored 10 in the second, and just kept rolling after that.

“The team was getting me the ball and they were screening for me, they were rolling,” she said. “It was just the opportunity that presented itself.”

Henze scored seven points in the first quarter, hitting several baskets in transition, but was slowed somewhat after that, finishing with 16.

“We just knew that we had to make it a tough catch for her, and then when she had the ball, we had to smother her,” Burlington Central coach Collin Kalamatas said. “We let her get going in transition a little bit early on, but once we limited her transition buckets, we were able to guard her in the halfcourt.”

Girls basketball

Boylan Reindeer Games

Burlington Central 71, Eastland 64, OT; Eastland 66, Dakota 44

Star of the game: Erin Henze, Eastland, 16 points vs. Burlington Central, 18 vs. Dakota to become program’s all-time leading scorer

Key performers: Lydia Coatney, Eastland, 25 points vs Burlington Central, 19 vs. Dakota; Elana Wells, Burlington Central, 27 points; Karlie Krogman, Eastland, 11 pointsvs Burlington Central; Meredith Janssen, Eastland, 10 points vs Burlington Central

Up next: Reindeer Games ‘B’ Bracket semifinal, Eastland vs. DeKalb, 12:30