COLEMAN — Four quarters of tough defense and 27 points from Abilene Christian signee Riley Grohman were enough to push the Jim Ned Lady Indians past Comanche, 51-32 in a 3A DI area round clash on Friday at Coleman High School.
Addison Bradshaw added 14 points with two 3-pointers and Gracee Cooley added six more to help lift the Lady Indians (32-2) who will meet perennial power Shallowater in the Region I-3A semifinals next week.
Along the way, Jim Ned limited Comanche’s All-Big Country Preps duo of J’Lee Salinas and Kinsey Glasgow to a combined six points. Destiny Jamison managed to pull up some of the slack with 17 points for the Maidens, who closed their season at 22-7.
“The girls did a great job,” Jim Ned coach Hunter Cooley said. “(Comanche) is pretty explosive and I thought that overall, our individual (defensive) assignments were really good and as team I thought we played really well defensively.”
While it wasn’t a perfect two-game stretch for the Comanche boys basketball team, the Indians did clinch a postseason berth last week and one of their players earned the spotlight. 
It’s been a hard last few months for Comanche’s J’Lee Salinas.
It was a month of milestones for Clyde senior post Maddie Underwood, who takes our Big Country Preps Player of the Week with a combination of great numbers, along with team and career achievements. 
Back-to-back double-doubles in two dominating efforts were enough to give Gorman junior Delila Crain our Big Country Player of the Week for the week ending Saturday, Jan. 18. 
The fact that Riley Grohman is our Player of the Week should surprise no one, considering she was named to our All-Big Country Preps team last year. But when you toss in her stats — an all-encompassing set of numbers — it makes even more sense. 
Our final Big Country Preps Player of the Week for 2024 earned it in several ways. 
Ira junior Hudson Luft had a week that was nothing short of eye-popping — eye-popping enough to earn him our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award for the week ending Dec. 7. 
With all the competition in the Big Country Preps coverage area, taking our Player of the Week award once is a big enough challenge. 
Only a year removed from running a ground-based flexbone option attack, the Wall Hawks have managed to put that approach in the distant past with a remarkable effort through the air in 2024. 
It’s been a little while for Anson’s Corey Layne. 
Jim Ned 45, Sweetwater 28 — Aiden Ellis rushed for 262 yards and three scores on 43 carries in a bulldozer-like effort for Jim Ned, which rushed for 400 yards as a team.
The regular season ends Friday night (if you can believe it) and there’s no better way to close things up than with No. 5 Class 2A DI Hawley (9-0, 4-0) at No. 1 Stamford (9-0, 4-0). 
Aiden Ellis rushed for 159 yards and three scores and Gray Beasley threw for 123 yards and two more TDs to lead the Indians to an important district win. 
There’s a great deal of excitement brewing around the Tolar volleyball team heading into postseason play and with good reason. If the Lady Rattlers (28-9, 12-1 District 8-3A) manage to knock off Comanche on Tuesday, they will set a school record for wins in a season. 
The Indians rushed for 330 yards collectively to improve to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in district play. 
Sweetwater 27, Comanche 13 — Uriah Aguilar-Rivera rushed for 121 yards and two scores as Sweetwater captured a crucial win on the road. 
It isn’t often that a place-kicker nails down our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, but Comanche’s Alex Terrell has done exactly that with a pressure-packed performance in a 13-10 overtime win over Jim Ned in our Game of the Week last Friday. 
Sweetwater 90, San Angelo TLCA 0 — A long night for TLCA got even worse when it was forced into seven turnovers. Six of those giveaways resulted in Sweetwater touchdowns via scoop-and-scores and pick returns. 
San Angelo Grape Creek 74, San Angelo TLCA 0 — TLCA’s struggles continued on Friday with a loss to cross-town rival Grape Creek. 
Overwhelming. If there were a one-word description for last week’s performance by six-foot Graham senior Lillian Noble, that would be it. 
— Cayden Davis rushed for 186 yards, threw for 104 and accounted for four touchdowns to lead Comanche to a win over Early. 
Sweetwater 39, Lubbock Estacado 25 — Korda Moore rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns and Caiden Ortiz threw for 135 yards to lead Sweetwater, which evened its record to 2-2 with the win. 
Versatility is a definite advantage for nominees in our Big Country Preps Player of the Week column. And for Anson senior quarterback Corey Layne it was enough to put him in this week’s top spot.