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WIESBADEN, Germany — Wiesbaden’s Eagles and Lady Eagles put themselves in the hunt for this week’s Kaiserslautern Christmas Classic tournament with impressive U.S. Forces-Europe basketball victories over Hanau on Sunday.

The Wiesbaden women, behind 22 points from Nicole Gwynn, downed the Lady Hornets 73-54, while the men won 83-71 as Rio Clayton also struck for 22 points.

The games were the final USFE league games prior to the annual Kaiserslautern event, now in its third decade. It runs Wednesday through next Monday at Kleber Casern in Kaiserslautern.

Wiesbaden women 73, Hanau 54

Ahead just 29-28 at halftime, the Lady Eagles abandoned their full-court press and concentrated on protecting the ball and getting it to Gwynn.

As a result, Wiesbaden scored 44 points in the second half to win going away.

“We’re a second-half team,” said Gwynn, who hit four straight buckets from the side of the lane as Wiesbaden scored 21 unanswered points to pull away. “We have to work up a sweat in the first half and get the adrenaline going for the second.”

The Lady Eagles improved to 2-1 in league play going into the holiday break. Assata Warner scored 18 points and dominated the boards in the second half. Point guard Taylor Stokes, formerly of Mannheim, had 14 points.

“We had good ball movement in the second half,” Gwynn said. “If we move the ball and make good passes, we do all right.”

Shenique Green scored 20 points and Valencia Joseph 11 for the Lady Hornets, who fell to 0-3.

Wiesbaden men 83, Hanau 71

Clayton, who has the size to play inside and the touch to play guard, finished 3-for-6 from beyond the three-point arc and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line as the Eagles rode their 35-26 halftime lead to victory.

Chris Burrell, Brian Redmon and Corey Mason each scored 14 points for Wiesbaden, which can post up or hit from the perimeter.

“We’ve got a lot of talent,” said Mason, who was 3-for-8 from behind the arc in the Eagles’ first league victory of the season. “We’ve just got to get used to working together.”

Mason said absences hurt the Eagles in their opening two losses of the regular season.

“We’ve had a lot of guys in the field and on leave,” he said. “We learned a lot from today’s game.”

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