Sports
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 Waxahachie Daily Light 13
District champions
Panthers defeated Waco 57-44 to claim share of 16-4A title By ALEX RILEY Daily Light sports writer
Before even stepping on the court, the Midlothian boys basketball team knew all the scenarios and situations that could happen in the district race on Tuesday night. But at the end of the day, the Panthers held only themselves accountable for what they controlled. Now the team is faced with a new scenario – making room in the trophy case. Behind three players hitting double figures and a raucous crowd, the Panthers handed Waco High a 57-44 loss on Tuesday night to clinch a share of the District 16-4A championship, putting the team in contention for the No. 1 playoff seed in next week’s bidistrict round. There is currently a tie with Waco University for the top seed as the two teams split the regular season series and finished with identical district records. The road atmosphere got a balancing factor as a bus load of students from
Midlothian joined the parents and other supporters in the drive south for the regular season finale. That grouping of fans provided a gymnasium that coach Glenn Hartson described as “electric.” “The crowds were unbelievable for both sides. Midlothian sent a school bus full of kids up there and it was full on both sides, the gym had a lot of energy,” Hartson said. With a cheering section to back them up, the Panthers (19-11, 11-3 district) went to work against the Lions. The team made a defensive switch to an almost exclusive man-to-man look according to Hartson, something that seemed to benefit the Panthers. “The kids really played good. We ran man, ran our press and we didn’t really get many turnovers but it just threw them out of sync,” Hartson said. “They couldn’t drive and kick. They like to get a lot of driving and kicking and they couldn’t.” That defense led to bad shots for Waco as Midlothian raced out to a
10-point halftime lead. The Panther offense was bolstered by the return of Derrick Agbaroji who found his rhythm after a tough comeback game against Ennis. The junior scored 14 points, including 10 in the second half to finish as the second leading scorer. Fellow junior Blaine Blackburn nailed four 3-pointers to finish with 14 while senior Zach Hofstad scored 10 points in the first half to set the tone early. With the win, Midlothian claims its first district championship since the 2007 season. The Panthers went on to win in the bidistrict round. Hartson and his coaching staff will spend the Wednesday morning evaluating who they face from District 154A in the opening round of the playoffs to determine whether University and Midlothian will play for the right to be No. 1 or just flip a coin for it. See Photo by Alex Riley/The Daily Light Thursday’s edition of the Daily Light Zach Hofstad scored 10 points to help the Panthers beat for the most up-to-date playoff inforWaco, 57-44, and claim a share of the district title. mation.
Hawks clinch tie for second place in 15-4A
A trio of Red Oak players hit double-figures as the team closed out the regular season with a 63-56 win over Forney to force a tie for second place in the District 154A standings. Senior D.J. Brady led the way with 15 while fellow veterans Gaylon Edwards (13) and Earl Graves (12) also had big games. Dominique Harris, the senior point guard, added another eight points in the crucial game. West Mesquite closed out the regular season with a 77-68 win to force the tie for second place. The Hawks (22-9, 8-4 district) closed out
Photo by Alex Riley/The Daily Light
Freshman Diamond Lockhart looks for room to operate against Cleburne’s Chasity Ward. Lockhart scored a team-high 16 points in the Lady Hawks’ 69-61 loss to the Lady Yellowjackets in the bidistrict playoff game.
Abbreviated stay
Cleburne holds off Red Oak rally handing Lady Hawks early playoff exit By ALEX RILEY Daily Light sports writer
ARLINGTON – It’s been 1,825 days between playoff appearances for the Red Oak girls basketball program. But that stretch will pale in comparison to the 365 days before the team gets another chance at a bidistrict win. After a five-year hiatus from post-season play, the Lady Hawks returned to the playoffs with an opening round game against Cleburne at Mansfield Timberview. The stint turned out to be a short one as the Lady Yellowjackets fought off numerous rallies to earn a 69-61 win. “I guess we just kind of froze up. We didn’t play our game,” senior guard Daphene Ward said. With stout guard play, the Lady Hawks (19-13) usually operate with aggressive defense on the ball and push the tempo. On Tuesday, they got a taste of their own medicine. Cleburne attacked the ball early and often forcing Red Oak into bad passes and easy turnovers. Those mistakes were converted into easy scoring opportunities as the Lady Yellowjackets raced out to a 23-9 lead early in the second quarter. After scoring 21 in the seeding game against Mesquite Poteet, guard Diamond Lockhart sparked a 12-0 run with a 3-pointer to stop a 6-0 run by Cleburne. She would finish with a team-high 16. Raquel Dent scored nine of the 12 points including a three-point play that gave the team a 24-23 lead at the 4:26 mark of the second. The two teams went backand-forth for the rest of the
Video highlights of the game avaliable at www.thedailylight.com under the video tab. period as junior varsity call up Taylor McCollugh sank a pair of free throws just before the half for a 34-32 lead. But just like the first period, Cleburne’s defense led it on a run for a double-digit lead. After a Lockhart 3 made it a one-point game, the Lady Yellowjackets rattled off nine unanswered to take a 10-point lead. The third period ended with the Lady Hawks trailing by nine at 51-42. “I think we were moving too fast instead of slowing the game down and running our offense like we’re supposed to,” Lockhart said. “I think we just got over-excited, maybe didn’t stay as focused as we should have.” Just like before, Red Oak came up with a strong rally effort to get back in the game behind good defense of its own. A pass from Symone Jackson to Lockhart resulted in an easy lay-up and sparked a 6-0 run that cut the lead to 54-50 with 4:28 left. But as easy as it came, it went for the Lady Hawks. Following a Cleburne timeout, the Lady Yellowjackets responded with a 6-0 spurt of their own to retake control. A 3-point bomb by Jackson, her third long-range connection of the year, cut the lead to six. McCollugh, the starting point guard for the junior varsity squad, displayed her range from the corner with a 3 to make it a five-point margin at 64-59. That was followed by a put back by Rob-
inson for a four-point margin. However free throw shooting iced the game and ended the Lady Hawks’ would-be comeback. Robinson tacked on 15 points as the six seniors combined for 20 points. The end result was not what anyone from the Red Oak program wanted to see, especially after the turnaround season. But the learning experience is something coach Melissa Fullmer hopes will pay off the next time her team is in a similar situation. “It’s tough right now and it’s really disappointing because I know that they really worked hard and I know they really wanted it. But unfortunately it just wasn’t for us tonight,” Fullmer said. “None of these kids have ever had the success or opportunity to go to post-season and that’s one of the things I told them: ‘It’s sad to see the six leave but those of you that are coming back, you’ve had a taste of it and you know what it takes now.’”
Photo by Alex Riley/The Daily Light
Red Oak senior Danyel Harris looks for an outlet to pass to during Tuesday’s 69-61 loss to Cleburne in the bidistrict round. Harris was one of six seniors to play their final high school game for the Lady Hawk program Monday night.
the season on a five-game win streak in district to move up from fourth place. Coach Preston Foster said he and all coaches involved in the seeding decision will meet during the morning to decide if there will be a seed determining game or a coin flip. The Hawks possible first round opponent will also depend on the seeding situation in District 16-4A as Midlothian and Waco University are tied for first with Waco High in third. See tomorrow’s Daily Light for details of that decision. –Alex Riley
Midlothian soccer sweeps through Timberview games
The district momentum continues to build for the Midlothian girls soccer team as the squad picked up an impressive 2-0 win in a road trip to Mansfield Timberview. With the victory, the Lady Panthers claim their third straight win and improve to 3-0-1 in district play. The squad is 10-5-2 overall. Goals came off the legs of Tori Adame and Callie Bishop from Eliza Carey and Cecilie Zuckero assists respectively. The victory not only keeps the team on its win streak, but serves as a spring board to a topsy-turvy week. After having last Friday’s game against Mansfield Legacy moved to Monday night, the Lady Panthers won their second within 24 hours with another game slated against Everman on Friday. That will be a home game with action set to start at 5:30 p.m.
Midlothian boys notch 3-0 victory
After last night’s gutwrenching loss to Mansfield Legacy, Midlothian coach Austin Guest stressed to his team the importance of putting the loss behind them so the team could move on Tuesday’s road trip with Mansfield Timberview. It appears the Panthers took that advice to heart.
Following a 2-1 defeat 24 hours earlier, the team responded with a big 3-0 win over Timberview to move to 2-1-1 in district play. The Panthers are 6-4-6 overall this season. The scoring prowess got started early and often as senior Brett Hames scored a pair of goals off assists from Patrick Lundberg and Eric Haston. Hayden Whatley added the third goal of the night as the team cruised to a crucial win. Like the girls team, the boys squad faces a three-game schedule this week thanks to the snow storms that hit the area last week. Midlothian will cap its three-game week with a home match on Friday against Everman at 7:30 p.m.
Hawks cruise to win over Ennis
Fresh off a 6-0 win over district and county-rival Waxahachie, the Red Oak boys team kept the good play going as the squad notched a big 3-0 win over Ennis on Tuesday night. The victory keeps the Hawks in control of the district race as the squad improves to 13-0 overall with a 3-0 start to district. –Alex Riley