The Henry Ford II Falcons have been firmly in the Eisenhower Eagles’ sights all season long.

And on Tuesday, they finally had a chance to do something about it.

“They’ve been on our little goal board for a while now, because we knew they got good players,” said Ike senior Devyn Raymond. “We got great players, and we knew it was gonna be a tough game coming into it, but we knew we could win.”

They knew and they did — the Eagles knocked off the previously-unbeaten Falcons, 63-49, to move to 13-1 and 5-0 in the Macomb Area Conference Red, taking sole possession of first place through the first half of league play.

“I am extremely proud of them,” said first-year Ike head coach Madison Ristovski.

“From day one when I walked in, they really bought into what we want to do. And I think they worked their butts off the whole game, and stayed up and battled adversity where we hit that head on. And I’m just really, really proud of them.”

The teams entered the game with a combined 24-1 overall record and, together, were 8-0 in the MAC Red. In the latest Michigan Sports Writers girls basketball poll, the Falcons were ranked as the No. 5-ranked team in Division 1, while Eisenhower checked in not far behind at No. 8.

The Eagles, which hadn’t beaten Ford since 2019 and have already added three wins above last year’s win total, fell behind early in the game due to the brilliance of Falcon Anayya Davis, a senior Grand Valley State commit, who scored 10 of her team’s 17 points in the first quarter and 24 of 33 at halftime.

But Eisenhower pulled ahead in the second quarter and led 35-33 at halftime despite Davis. It helped that freshman Mackenzie Turner popped off for 11 points in the second quarter.

She’s one of five freshmen on the varsity roster, including her twin, Janielle, who had five points in the first quarter.

But while youth has been a theme for Ike — they have 19 in the program this year — it was a senior leader that picked up the pace in the second half and guided her teammates.

Devyn Raymond, along with helping swarm Davis on defense whether she had the ball or not, scored six buckets and had 14 points in the second half for the Eagles, who out-scored Ford 28-16 in the latter 16 minutes to pull away with the win.

“We knew that they were going to be like, just shooting and driving the ball,” Raymond said. “So I feel like me, I just had to be a little bit calmer, because, you know, freshmen, there’s a big crowd. There’s a lot going on this game. They get a little rowdy sometimes. So I feel like just being a senior, being here before, you just got to be calm.”

Ristovski emphasized the impact and importance of Raymond inside a program that has seen its fortunes shift dramatically in just one year’s time.

“The kids look up to Devyn,” Ristovski said. “All three teams. They look at her as a leader, as a competitor. We call her Bill Laimbeer out there, because she does all the dirty work out there. She’s physical, she’s tough, she plays defense, and at the end of the day, she wants to win. And so the kids feed off of that and her positive energy. She’s a captain for us. So really, she’s doing a great job this season.”

For the record, Raymond was unfamiliar with the former Bad Boy. She has since been informed.

After scoring 24 points in the first half, Davis was held to just one in the second.

“We try to pride ourselves on stopping and limiting players on the other team that score a lot of points,” Ristovski said. “At halftime, we talked about how she was really carrying the load, and I challenged my kids that (in) the second half we needed to stop her, because she’s a really great player.”Ford’s offensive stagnation in the second half can directly be attributed to Davis’ struggles, which, of course, can be tied straight to the continued — and enhanced, at times — efforts of Eisenhower’s defense.

And as Davis’ frustrations grew, so did Ford’s as a team.

“They made that big commitment to shut her down,” said HFII head coach Matt Joseph. “I thought she was incredible in the first half. Had some big shots and kept us in it. That’s one where other players have to make shots and so that we don’t have that drop-off in production. But yeah, that was the key, right? They bodied her up and chased her and didn’t let her breathe. And we got to do a better job as coaches of getting looks.”

Tyra Wright had nine points, Emily Leusby had seven, Claire O’Brien four and Makenna Bettis two for Ford.

With the loss being Ford’s first of the season — they’re now 12-1 and 4-1 in the MAC Red — Joseph hopes that his players will be inspired to not let it happen again.

“My hope is we have one of our best practices tomorrow,” Joseph said. “That, to me, is a sign of a good team, one that doesn’t like this feeling. So they come out tomorrow and say, ‘let’s learn from this and get better.’

“You know, like I said, this is a big game. Great, great high school girls basketball game, right? I mean, big crowd. That’s awesome, but it wasn’t a league championship. It wasn’t a district championship. That’s what we told our kids: it’s one game.”

Raymond’s 24 points led Eisenhower, and Mackenzie Turner had 16. Madison Repicky and Leah Poggiolo each had six, Janielle Turner had five, Gabriella Gojcaj and Natalya Stojcevski each had three and Paige Hays had one point.

Among those players, both Turners, Repicky and Poggiolo are all freshmen — that’s a combined 33 points in a first-place game between Eagles with three full seasons of eligibility left.

The youth on varsity hasn’t come at the expense of their freshmen and JV teams, either — on Tuesday, they completed a “program sweep” — that’s wins at all three levels — which has become commonplace for Ike this season.

“We have 19 freshmen in our program from top to bottom, and it’s awesome,” Ristovski said. “They have really fun personalities, but I think our leaders are our upper classmen. (They) really do a great job of leading them and showing them what they need to do.

“I’m proud of our freshmen and JV teams. They work just as hard as we do every day at practice, and they’re having a lot of fun. They play together, they stay connected.”

The two teams will meet again on Friday, Feb. 21 in Sterling Heights.