Lady Bulldogs rip Whitesboro, 74-56; Smith scores 37

Senior Alissa Smith answered the bell when junior Riley Harvey went down with an injury last week vs. Ponder. All Smith did Tuesday vs. Whitesboro, in her last home game, was score 37 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs to a 74-56 win Smith was 11 of 19 from the field including five three-pointers in six attempts She also nailed down 10 of 14 free throws

The Howe girls got off to a decent start in their first period without center Riley They were able to lead at the end of the first period by a score of 21-14 by playing a style of "small ball with both point guards Madisyn Hargrove and Peyton Streetman in the game for the majority of the game.

Whitesboro actually won the second period 18-17 to give the Lady Bulldogs a narrow 38-32 lead at the half.

While Smith was able to make up for the points Riley normally has; it was Kayla Anderson who made up for the rebounds Anderson totaled nine boards overall to lead the Lady Bulldogs on the evening Smith also had seven of her own

The third period was won by the Lady Bulldogs, 19-12 to give the Howe girls a 57-44 lead after three

Howe extended the lead and put the game clearly in the rearview mirror by scoring 17 fourth period points while only allowing 12 to round out the 74-56 win.

The win makes the Lady Bulldog 25-6 on the season and finished 122 in District 13-3A trailing only Pottsboro, who went 14-0 Howe's two district losses came at the hands of The Lady Cardinals

Streetman, seeing more minutes in the absence of Riley had 13 points and six rebounds on the evening Darci Foster added 12 and Anderson finished with 10 on the night Hargrove rounded out the scoring with two

"We missed Riley on the court a lot." said Smith. "She really helps our team. I think we played a very good game (tonight). Everything just fell in to place."

The Lady Bulldogs will travel to Denton Ryan High School tonight to take on the Jacksboro Lady Tigers in the first round of the playoffs Jacksboro finished third in District 9-3A with a district record of 9-5

Harvey is listed as day-to-day and will be a game-time decision to play in tonight's game