A blistering first quarter was all Lubbock Monterey needed to ruin Wylie’s Senior Night as the Plainsmen ran away with a 69-39 win over the Bulldogs on the penultimate night of District 4-5A play.
Monterey used a 16-0 run in the opening quarter to seize control and snuff out any hopes of a Wylie win.
The Bulldogs (9-11 overall, 5-4 district) now find themselves in fourth place in the district standings with Friday’s regular season finale at Lubbock Coronado on tap.
ODESSA — A disastrous second quarter sunk the Abilene High boys basketball team Tuesday night as the Eagles fell 54-38 on the road to Odessa Permian.
Trailing by a just a point after the first quarter, the Eagles were outscored 17-4 in the second, sending them to halftime down 25-11 and allowing the Panthers to cruise in the second half to the win.
Here are the updated Big Country girls basketball playoff pairings, results:
Continue reading “Big Country Girls Basketball Playoff Pairings, Results (March 5)”
Wylie girls basketball coach Amy Powell readily admits that her team isn’t the most intimidating off the bus. The Lady Bulldogs don’t cast a particularly imposing shadow and won’t strike fear into opponents during warm-ups.
But what they are is a team in every sense of the word and what they will do is compete from tip to buzzer regardless of the opponent or in-game situation.
Those qualities, instilled in large part by an instrumental senior class, have allowed Wylie to stay in almost every game this season, despite playing one of its toughest schedules in recent memory. And though they enter the playoffs just a game over .500 at 13-12, the Lady Bulldogs do so on a mission and with the confidence of a team that knows it has the leadership, chemistry and ability to a make postseason run.
When you shoot 73.5 percent from the floor, you don’t have to shoot very often to create impressive numbers.
That was the case with our Capital Farm Credit Big Country Preps Player of the Week, Landri Withers of Stephenville, who tallied 39 total points in wins over Gatesville (73-55) and Brownwood (45-27). The Honeybees (20-2) clinched the District 6-4A title with the Brownwood win, during which Withers tallied 23 points.
She closed the week with a combined seven rebounds, 12 pass deflections and three steals.
STEPHENVILLE — Second-year Stephenville girls basketball coach Jason Hodges and his sixth-ranked Honeybees are about to walk into a minefield.
Facing a Region I-4A bracket loaded with quality teams, Hodges and company have done everything they can to prep for the upcoming challenge. It is now time to jump in and hope to survive the chaos.
Sixth-ranked Stephenville will open against either Wichita Falls Hirschi or Burkburnett at 7:30 p.m., on Thursday in Mineral Wells. Pushing well beyond that point is the result Hodges was hoping for through a brutal non-district slate and a difficult district schedule that had SHS battle-hardened weeks in advance.
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LINK … GAME STORY: Big fourth-quarter run fuels Wylie boys to key district win over Cooper
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LINK … GAME STORY: Wylie girls overcome late lull, hold off Cooper for 53-46 win
SAN ANGELO — Playing their third overtime game in their last four, the Abilene High boys basketball team dropped a 46-44 slugfest to San Angelo Central on Friday, falling to 6-4 in District 2-6A in the process.
The Eagles (17-6 overall), who still hold a one-game lead on Central for third in the district standings, led 10-6 after a quarter. But the Bobcats outscored AHS 16-11 in the second quarter and 10-9 in the third to take a two-point lead into the fourth.
Down 32-30 to start the final period, the Eagles rallied to force overtime, but they were outscored 6-4 in the extra period to fall to 3-3 in their last six games.
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LINK … GAME STORY: Wall takes pair of 6-3A nailbiters against Ballinger
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LINK … GAME STORY: Stephenville uses lockdown defensive effort to beat rival Brownwood
The Wylie girls basketball team led Cooper from wire to wire Friday at Cougar Gym, but despite holding an 18-point lead early in the third quarter, the Lady Bulldogs needed a strong finish to fend off the Lady Lady Cougars 53-46 in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Wylie, which opened the game on a 15-3 run and led 32-25 at halftime, opened the third quarter with an 11-0 spurt to push ahead 43-25 with five minutes remaining in that period. But coach Amy Powell’s squad scored just four points over the next 10 minutes as Cooper narrowed that margin to one (47-46) with a 21-4 run.
But after the Lady Coogs missed an opportunity to take their first lead from the free-throw line with 3:03 to play, Wylie (13-12 overall) outscored coach Arsenio Geter’s team 6-0 the rest of the way to wrap up District 4-5A’s runner-up spot at 7-3 in league play.
The Wylie boys basketball team put itself back in the thick of the District 4-5A race with a big home win over crosstown rival Cooper on Tuesday, outscoring the Cougars 25-17 in the final quarter of a 70-59 victory.
The win, the Bulldogs’ fourth in their last five games and second this season over an active district leader, improved coach Gregg Ruffin’s team to 5-3 in league play, pulling them within a game of co-leaders Cooper and Lubbock Cooper with two games remaining.
The Bulldogs, who clinched playoff spot with Friday’s outcome, can now focus on improving their playoff seed with games against Lubbock Monterey (14-11, 5-3) and Lubbock Coronado (9-12, 2-6) remaining.
STEPHENVILLE — With sole possession of the District 6-4A championship at stake against archrival Brownwood on Friday, the Stephenville Honeybees relied on an old friend to bring the title home in the regular season finale for both clubs.
Clinging to a 14-12 halftime lead, SHS used its tight man-to-man defense to pressure the Lady Lions into a third-quarter goose egg. The resulting 14-0 run through the period proved to be the turning point in a 45-27 win for the Honeybees (20-2, 7-1), giving them a seat atop the league standings.
Landri Withers poured in 23 points while Mya Wilson and Alee McClendon added 11 and nine respectively to lift Stephenville, which took advantage of Tuesday’s upset of second-place Glen Rose by Lampasas to snag the title.
BALLINGER — The Wall Hawks used a strong fourth quarter to fend off a Ballinger comeback attempt and claim a 49-35 District 6-3A win Friday night at Joe Forester Gymnasium.
With both squads having already clinched playoff berths, the Hawks put themselves in position to claim the outright district championship with a win over San Angelo TLCA on Tuesday.
The Bearcats, meanwhile, suffered their first home loss of the season after posting their lowest scoring game of the season.
WINTERS — Prior to Tuesday’s win over Forsan, which clinched a tie for the district title, the Winters boys basketball team had not achieved this feat since 2012. And in the intervening years, the Blizzards and basketball weren’t a great mix.
As recently as a year ago, Winters finished 11-18 overall . This was preceded by a 7-12 mark in 2019 and a 6-15 tally a year before that.
You get the picture.
But a new coach, a new attitude and a new emphasis on defense has seen the Blizzards of 2021 produce the best team they have had in nine years. They carry a 20-4 overall record and 8-1 mark in District 8-2A into Friday’s game at Coleman and could clinch the league title outright with the win.
After record-breaking careers for the Cooper Cougars, running back and Noah Garcia and quarterback Aidan Thompson are ready to take their talents to the next level.
Garcia, Cooper’s career leader for rushing yardage and all-purpose touchdowns, is headed to West Texas A&M while Thompson, the Coogs’ all-time leading passer, is bound for Oklahoma Baptist.
Both signed their letters of intent Tuesday in an outdoor ceremony to headline a list of five Cooper athletes to make their college destinations official. Joining them were Jack Keefer, who will be going onto East Central College to play baseball, Bri Garcia, who will play volleyball and basketball at McMurry, and Joe Caton, who will swim for McMurry.
The local pipeline to Hardin-Simmons University continued Wednesday when three Wylie football players announced their decision to become Cowboys at a signing day ceremony at the Wylie I.S.D. Performance Arts Center.
Jahzair George, a three-year letterman at cornerback who also excelled as a receiver and return man this past season, Brice Cantrell, a two-year contributor at defensive end, and Stellon Wright, a running back and safety who transferred in from Lubbock Monterey, all announced their commitment to HSU — following in the footsteps of the four former Bulldogs on the Division III program’s current roster.
That trio was joined at Wednesday’s ceremony by state qualifying pole vaulter Kylor Aguilar, who signed to continue his track and field career at Division II Harding University.
With National signing Day officially in the books, it’s time to take a quick look at this year’s Big Country signees — the most notable of which is Eastland quarterback Behren Morton, who has inked a Letter of Intent with Texas Tech.
Wall offensive lineman Tate Williams (Baylor) and Cash Jones of Brock (Georgia) were the area’s only other players to sign with power conferences.
Angelo State was among the busiest of the area’s bigger universities, snagging Tyler Simpson of Blanket, Logan Glover of San Saba and Kason Phillips of Stephenville.
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Photos may be purchased for $7 each by clicking on the small shopping cart emblem below the lower right corner of the gallery. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Photos may be purchased for $7 each by clicking on the small shopping cart emblem below the lower right corner of the gallery. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
THIS WEEK: Haskell girls coach Mike Skelton visits with Evan Ren and Dan Youngblood (prerecorded on Saturday, Jan. 30).
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LUBBOCK — The Cooper boys basketball team took sole possession of first place in District 4-5A on Tuesday, defeating Lubbock Coronado 69-58 while taking advantage of Lubbock Monterey’s 59-55 win over Lubbock Cooper.
The Cougars had entered the night tied with Lubbock Cooper for first, but the Pirates’ loss to the Plainsmen gives the Coogs a one-game lead with three district games to play.
Cooper (15-5 overall, 6-1 in district) led Coronado by just a point (32-31) at halftime and by just three (49-46) after three quarters Tuesday, but a 20-12 run through the fourth quarter allowed coach Bryan Conover’s squad to pull away for its third straight win and ninth in its last 10 games.
Coming off back-to-back road losses to fall out of contention for the District 4-5A title, the Wylie girls basketball team found comfort in more friendly environs Tuesday, routing Lubbock High 67-18 in its final home game of the year.
After honoring their five seniors to kick off their Senior Night festivities, the Lady Bulldogs raced out to a 20-3 first-quarter lead and increased their advantage to 32-5 by halftime before cruising in the final two quarters to the blowout win.
The victory improved Wylie to 12-12 overall and 6-3 in league play, all but locking up the No. 2 playoff seed out of District 4-5A. The Lady Bulldogs will close out the regular season Friday at Cooper (10-15, 2-7), which is in the midst of a five-game losing streak, while third-place Lubbock Coronado (10-13, 5-4) closes things out at home against district champion and eighth-ranked Lubbock Cooper (22-3, 9-0).
STAMFORD — Dating all the way back to elementary school, a group of Stamford junior girls currently on the SHS varsity had been losing in basketball to a current group of junior girls from Haskell. Over and over again, they took one drubbing after another.
That all ended on Tuesday in the first game of a varsity doubleheader at Stamford High School when the Lady Bulldogs, behind 20 points from Tylee Jo Bevel, upset the 15th-ranked Maidens 48-47 to hand Haskell (18-3, 11-1) its first district loss of the year.
The Stamford boys claimed the nightcap, beating Haskell 46-38 to complete a varsity sweep. But it was the Stamford girls who stole the show on Tuesday, rallying to finally stop their old nemesis.
With the score tied at 47 with no time left, Bevel drew a foul on a missed 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded. She went to the line and sank the winning free throw, but not before there was some drama. She had missed her first two shots with a rather loud contingent of Haskell students trying to distract her into a third.
Hosting last-place Midland High with a chance to clinch a playoff berth Tuesday, the Abilene High boys basketball team wasted no time putting the Bulldogs away, scoring 27 of the game’s first 30 points on their way to a 77-42 win.
Leading 27-3 after a quarter, the Eagles increased their advantage to 41-8 before settling for a 46-16 halftime lead.
From there, it was academic, as AHS (17-5 overall, 6-3 in District 2-6A) wrapped up at least a fourth-place in the league standings.
WINTERS — The Winters boys basketball team clinched at least a share of the District 8-2A championship with a 46-37 win over Forsan on Tuesday night.
The Blizzards were led by Alex Salas’ 19 points as they improved to 20-4 on the year, 8-1 in district and atoned for their only loss in district play.
Jon Kullen Busher added 13 more points for the Blizzards.
Tuesday’s win sets up a Friday night showdown with Coleman for the top seed in the playoffs. If the Blizzards win, they will clinch the district title outright. A Bluecats win, however, will result in a seeding game.
After two years of struggling through graduation losses and the inexperience which followed, the Comanche Maidens are back. 
Chalking up wins over Dublin (67-31) and Millsap (40-38) last week, CHS locked up a playoff berth behind two double-doubles from senior post Megan Carter.
Her effort has earned her the Capital Farm Credit/Big Country Preps Player of the Week award for the week ending Jan. 30.