Month: January 2026

by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Anson boys, Hawley girls earn wins in Jones County Showdown

ANSON — Tuesday night featured a pair of thrilling finishes at Tiger Gymnasium as the Hawley girls claimed a 50-47 win in overtime while the Anson boys held on for a 47-46 win in District 10-2A play.

It wasn’t just the scores that were nearly identical as both games featured a frenetic end to regulation.

The girls game featured a Hawley turnover in the offensive end with 7.69 seconds to play before Anson was called for a travel with four seconds left on the clock. The Hawley boys missed a layup with 11 seconds to play before the Tigers were called for an over-and-back violation with four seconds left.

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: No. 2 Gordon girls top No. 1 Eula in classic battle of unbeatens

EULA — Yes, it lived up to the hype. In fact, Tuesday’s showdown between the top-ranked Eula girls and No. 2 Gordon may have exceeded the expectations of some. 

Faith Garnett scored 17 points and sister Grace Garnett added 16 more to lead Gordon (22-0, 1-0 District 13-1A) to a thrilling 47-43 win in a battle of unbeatens at Mary Mosley Gymnasium.

In a game that featured 21 combined 3-pointers between the two clubs, seven lead changes and five ties, Gordon used a 7-3 spurt in the final 3:51 to walk away with the win. 

While suffering its first loss of the year, Eula (25-1, 1-1) was led by Kamryn Franklin with 12 and Emma Damron with 11. 

“With the respect we have for Eula and the job coach Fostel does with them, we knew coming in that it would be two teams that are well-prepared and that would land punches,” Gordon coach Matt Garnett said. “Our whole goal was to be able to take some of those punches and we felt like we could throw some. 

“But we know how good they are and I was just really proud.” 

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Cooper girls stymie archrival Abilene High in 43-18 win, boost playoff hopes in District 4-5A

Entering Tuesday’s crosstown rivalry game off lopsided losses to open District 4-5A play, both the Abilene High and Cooper girls basketball teams were looking to break into the win column and get an early leg up in the race for the league’s fourth playoff spot.

With just four wins between them coming into the week, both squads have faced their share of adversity this season. But competing in a five-team district guarantees that at least one of them will close a tough year of transition and/or growth in the playoffs.

On Tuesday at Eagle Gym, it was Cooper that took a running leap toward that goal, using relentless pressure defense to stifle Abilene High in a dominant 43-18 victory. The Lady Cougars, who forced more turnovers than points allowed, trailed only once (at 5-4 early in the second quarter), scoring 17 second-quarter points to pull away for a commanding 21-7 lead by halftime.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sipe takes our weekly award with unbelievable shooting night

There are memorable shooting nights. Then there are shooting nights one is unlikely to ever forget.

Wylie senior guard Swade Sipe had one of the latter on Friday night, with a 33-point effort in a 74-62 win over Brock. 

During the course of this performance, Sipe was 11 of 11 from the field, 6 of 6 from 3-point range, 5 of 5 from two-point range and 5 of 6 from the foul line.

This explosive, nearly perfect effort against a very good 4A Brock team earns Sipe our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award, during a week when several players posted numbers good enough to claim the accolade.

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by Daniel Youngblood

THIS WEEK IN BOYS BASKETBALL: Several games on the docket with district title implications

With district play either underway or starting this week for all area boys basketball teams, it’s time to start taking a closer look at how our Big Country hoops races are shaping up.

And as we’ve done in the past, we’ll break down our top upcoming matchups, the top results from the previous week and the area’s biggest surprise right here each Sunday, starting with this column.

We hope you enjoy a look at this week in area boys basketball.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Wylie girls push through slow start to rout crosstown rival Cooper in district opener

It took 3½ minutes to get on the board and a boost from its bench to get going in the right direction Friday, but once the Wylie girls basketball team found its footing, it never lost it in a 71-12 road win over Cooper to open District 4-5A play.

With the game still scoreless more than three minutes into the game, Lady Bulldogs coach Duane Hopper subbed out his entire starting group in a hockey-style line change. And that second unit provided exactly the type of spark he was hoping for, closing the opening quarter on a 15-2 run to set the wheels in motion for the rout to come.

The victory, which saw Wylie limit Cooper to two points in each of the first three quarters and just two field goals for the game, improved the Lady Bulldogs to 20-5 overall and 1-0 in league play, while the Lady Cougars fell to 3-22 and 0-1.

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Brownwood uses defense, two big runs to stop Lady Rams

BROWNWOOD — A sluggish start was nothing that a 14-1 run couldn’t fix. 

Trailing Mineral Wells 8-7 after one quarter, the sixth-ranked Brownwood girls combined a zone trap with solid halfcourt defense to take control of the game on the way to a 47-27 win in the District 6-4A opener for both clubs.  

Nylah Hall scored 12 points and Trinity Roberts added 11 more to lead Brownwood (21-3, 1-0), which turned the 8-7 deficit into a 21-9 lead by the 3:05 mark of the second quarter. 

Mineral Wells (14-11, 0-1) was led by Addyson Moore with 10 points. Jentry Jeter and Aniya Richardson added six apiece. 

“We’ve got to put it all together,” Brownwood coach Heather Hohertz said. “This is where it counts and we are thankful and grateful for this victory. But we’ve got to get better.” 

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Jim Ned sweeps varsity doubleheader with Sweetwater (+two boxscores)

TUSCOLA — While the two games took on a different character, both ends of Tuesday’s varsity doubleheader between Jim Ned and Sweetwater had one thing in common: both were frustrating for SHS. 

In Game 1, the Jim Ned girls used a 14-0 start and a 38-point night by Lily Bryant to hand Sweetwater a 56-39 loss at Bill Thornton Arena.  The nightcap saw the Indians down Sweetwater 49-47 in a physical, slow-tempo duel in which Jim Ned executed just well enough down the stretch to keep the Mustangs at bay.  

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Fast start, 33-point night from Sipe lift Wylie to 74-62 nondistrict win over Brock

Hosting Brock for a strong nondistrict test, the Wylie boys basketball put together one of its most complete performances of the season on Tuesday, racing out to a 10-2 lead and maintaining that pace the rest of the way for a 74-62 win at Bulldog Gym.

The Bulldogs (8-10) never trailed, stretching a 22-15 first-quarter advantage to 42-28 by halftime and answering every BHS run from there to roll to the double-digit victory.

Senior Swade Sipe was at the heart of that effort, knocking down half of his team’s 12 3-pointers to lead all scorers with 33 points. The 6-foot-5 sharpshooter had at least six points in every quarter to keep a talented and resilient Eagles squad from ever fighting its way back into the game.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Wall big man takes our first award of 2026

Nobody played a tougher schedule over the holidays than the Wall boys. And nobody had a bigger impact on their successful run through a brutal five-game stretch than 6-foot-7 big man Paxton Brake who takes our first Big Country Preps Player of the Week for 2026.

Brake, a junior, scored a combined 70 points through the break, averaging 14 points, 9.2 boards and 3.2 assists to help the Hawks go 4-1 over the break with wins over Decatur, Lorena, Ponder and Sweetwater, along with a close loss to perennial power Brock.

Wall enters this week at 17-5 overall.

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by Daniel Youngblood

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: Holliday tops Jim Ned boys for title; Graford routs Christoval in third-place game

EULA — The Jim Ned boys basketball team fell just short of the Eula Holiday Classic championship on Wednesday, dropping a hard-fought game to a familiar foil in the event’s title game at Mary Mosley Gymnasium.

The Indians got off to a fast start against region rival Holliday, building an early 17-9 lead, but they couldn’t maintain that momentum in a 42-36 loss to the Eagles.

That matchup capped a strong boys tournament for area teams, as Graford placed third with a 64-33 win over Christoval and Clyde took fifth with a 45-36 win over Andrews. Other noteworthy results involving area squads included a 36-34 loss by Tolar to Bells in the seventh-place game and 69-64 loss by Eula to New Deal in the consolation third-place game.

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by Daniel Youngblood

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: Late 3 fuels Eula girls past Jim Ned, to second straight Eula Holiday Classic title

EULA — Before last year, Eula coach Josh Fostel had never won a Eula Holiday Classic championship in the tournament’s long and illustrious history. On Wednesday, he and his Lady Pirates won their second straight.

After racing out to a double-digit lead in the first half of Wednesday’s championship game, EHS saw Jim Ned rally to take its first lead of the contest on a Lily Bryant 3-pointer with just over 17 seconds remaining. But Reagan Barr answered with a clutch 3 of her own with five seconds to play to lift the Lady Pirates to a thrilling 49-47 win at Mary Mosley Gymnasium.

That action-packed title game capped a strong overall tournament for area squads, as Tolar topped Hermleigh 54-46 to take the third-place game and Clyde defeated Spur 53-44 to win the consolation title. Hico also finished sixth in the 16-team girls field, falling to Nazareth 44-27 in the fifth-place game after knocking off Holliday 50-40 in its third-round game on Tuesday.

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