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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Friday, January 14, 2005
Eagles hurt by bad start against Tors
After getting off to good starts in their first four District 4-3A games and then struggling at times after that, the Pecos Eagle girls basketball team tried the opposite Tuesday night in Lamesa.
The Eagles put themselves in a quick 10-point hole against the Golden Tornadoes, and then spent the rest of the game trying to come back. Pecos did cut the lead to as little as three points at one point in the game, but they were never able to completely wipe out Lamesa’s lead, and the Tornadoes would pull away at the end for a 53-44 win over the Eagles.
“The first quarter killed us. We were down 10-0,” Eagles’ coach Lisa Lowery said. “We fought back, but then they pulled away again in the fourth quarter.”
“We had some balanced scoring, but we’re still not as aggressive as we need to be,” she said. “We finally fouled enough at the end to put them on the foul line to get a chance to get the ball back, but we still need to be more aggressive.
Pecos did rally to score nine points late in the first period, and went in at halftime down by only five, at 23-18. The Tors widened that to 36-30 after three periods and kept Pecos from making any big rally in the final period.
Danielle Garcia and Chantel Mazone each had 11 points to lead Pecos, while Olga Mendoza had 10 and Adriana Armendariz scored nine for the Eagles. But Pecos did hurt themselves from the foul line with 7-for-18 shooting. Bailee Harris had 15 points and Woody Gonzales 12 to lead Lamesa, which beat Pecos at home by 12 points earlier this season in tournament play.
The loss dropped Pecos to 3-16 on the season and 2-3 in district play going into their Friday night home game against Seminole, which will be playing their second game of the week at the Pecos High School gym.
The Maidens were in Pecos for their neutral site game on Tuesday against Presidio, and defeated the Blue Devils by a 64-21 final score to remain atop the district standings with a 5-0 record, a game ahead of 4-1 Lamesa and Greenwood.
“Coach (Becky) Granado had jury duty and stayed around town, so she got to see them along with a couple of the other high school teachers,” Lowery said. “I know they’re very well coached and have got a lot of height. We’ll try to get something planned for them.”
PECOS (44)
Carrasco 0 0-0 0; Garcia 5 0-3 11; Herrera 0 3-4 3; Rodriguez 0 0-0 0; Valdez 0 0-0 0; Mendoza 4 2-4 10; Armendariz 4 1-3 9; Mazone 5 1-4 11. Totals 18 7-18 44.
LAMESA (53)
Harris 6 2-3 15; Pierce 2 2-2 6; Gonzales 5 0-0 12; Quisenberry 1 0-2 1; Strewart 0 0-0 0; Martinez 1 0-0 3; Stafford 5 1-1 11; Marmalejo 2 0-0 4; Barrington 0 1-2 1. Totals 22 6-12 53.
Pecos 9 9 12 14 -- 44
Lamesa 16 7 13 17 -- 53
Three-point goals: Pecos 1 (Garcia), Lamesa 4 (Gonzales 2, Harris, Martinez). Fouled out: Lamesa, Barrington. Total fouls: Pecos 14, Lamesa 19.
Eagles to start baseball season with Midland
The Pecos Eagles baseball team will open their 2005 season with tournament play, and will start their district schedule a week earlier than in recent years with the addition of Seminole and Lamesa to Pecos’ 4-3A schedule.
Coach Elias Payan’s team will be trying for their seventh straight trip to the playoffs after finishing second in district last season to Presidio. This season, the Eagles will travel to Presidio in March to face the Blue Devils, then host them in their final home game for the second year in a row.
Last year’s game also was the final regular season game for Pecos, when the Blue Devils avenged a loss at home to the Eagles by winning in Pecos to take the district title. This year, the Eagles will follow up their April 22 game against Presidio with a game the following afternoon in Greenwood against the Rangers, before ending their season at Lamesa on April 29.
Greenwood will also be the host for Pecos’ season opening games this year, though those will be at Christensen Stadium as part of the Greenwood Tournament. It has been moved up from its previous mid-March date, and will begin on Feb. 24.
Pecos will have two other tournaments, at Monahans on March 3-5 and in Snyder the following weekend. Snyder will come to Pecos for the Eagles’ home opener on March 1, and Pecos will also host Odessa High and Kermit in non-district games.
Long distance Tornaodes hit Pecos, 90-39
There were some good things for the Pecos Eagles’ basketball team, in their Tuesday night game against the Lamesa Golden Tornadoes, coach Art Welborn said, even if the final score doesn’t indicate that.
Welborn said the Eagles had their chances to score in the early going in Lamesa, but couldn’t hit any shots, and found themselves trailing by 34 points at halftime to the Tors, who hit double-digits in 3-point shots and remained unbeaten in District 4-3A play and kept Pecos winless with a 90-37 victory.
“We shot 17 percent in the first half,” Welborn said. “We pressed them in the first half and got eight steals, but we didn’t convert any of them. We missed a lot of wide-open looks at the basket.”
The Eagles had played the Tors in Lamesa two weeks earlier, and trailed by just six at halftime in what ended up as a 54-36 Lamesa win. But the Eagles also had been beaten by 40 points earlier in December by the Tors, and Tuesday’s score was more like that one, even though Welborn said the Eagles played better than they had in their loss last Friday to Greenwood.
“We pressed them well, we just couldn’t score,” he said. “We also had 28 turnovers, which is better than last time, but we have to convert every scoring opportunity we get.”
“When we couldn’t hit, and after they got comfortable, they hit about six 3-pointers,” Welborn said. Overall, Lamesa hit 11 from 3-point range, while Pecos only had one 3-pointer on the night, by Saul Pina. He, Ricardo Morales and Luis Licon all ended up with eight points, while Lupito Bustmantes finished with 10, though he also had problems hitting from inside.
The Tornadoes had five players finish in double figures, led by Zack Hawkins with 15 points.
The loss left Pecos with a 3-16 season record and an 0-3 mark in district, while Lamesa improved to 16-6 and 4-0, tied for first with Seminole, who the Eagles will host on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Indians broke a halftime tie with Presidio in Pecos on Tuesday and defeated the Blue Devils by a 60-49 final score.
PECOS (39)
Morales 4 0-0 8; Pina 3 1-4 8; Licon 2 4-6 8; Anchondo 1 1-3 3; Estrada 0 1-2 1; Bustamantes 5 0-0 10; Macha 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 8-16 39.
LAMESA (90)
Hill 5 1-2 12; Hunter 2 2-2 7; McCall 3 0-0 9; Free 3 1-2 10; Hawkins 7 0-2 15; Moreno 1 4-6 6; Enriquez 2 3-4 7; Seal 4 3-3 11; Salina 2 3-5 8; Chapman 2 0-0 5. Totals 31 17-26 90.
Pecos 6 7 10 16 -- 39
Lamesa 23 24 25 18 -- 90
Three-point goals: Pecos 1 (Pina), Lamesa 11 (McCall 3, Free 3, Hill 1, Hunter 1, Hawkins 1, Salinas 1, Chapman 1). Fouled out: Lamesa, Enriquez. Total fouls: Pecos 20, Lamesa 16.
Bears bomb shorthanded Vaqueros
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Balmorhea Bears had as many 3-point baskets in the first quarter of their game against the Sierra Blanca Vaqueros as Sierra Blanca had players on their roster, which were two of the main reasons why the Bears came away with an easy home victory Tuesday night.
The Bears hit five shots from 3-point range in the opening period against the Vaqueros, whose five players had to go the entire 32 minutes against the Bears. Sierra Blanca’s Daniel Franco actually hit the first 3-pointer of the game, but things went downhill for the Vaqueros after that, as the Bears posted an 84-26 win to even their District 9-A record at 1-1 on the season.
“Last Friday we couldn’t shoot. We hardly hit any 3-pointers and tonight we hit nine or 10,” said coach Adolfo Garcia. “When we’re on we’re on, but when we’re not we have trouble, because we don’t have much of an inside game.”
Brian Mendoza hit three of the five 3-pointers in the opening period, as part of a 21-point night, while Justin Machuca had a big third quarter for Balmorhea, when the Bears went on a 25-4 run to widen their lead to 44 points entering the fourth quarter.
Michael Rodriguez tied the game for Balmorhea at the outset with a 3-point basket, and Mendoza then hit his trio of 3s around a Machuca lay-up. Mendoza would have two lay-ups of his won to follow and Machuca would hit from 3-point range to cap a 23-point run for the Bears, who ended the period leading by a 27-8 margin.
Garcia rotated his reserves into the game during the second period, and Sierra Blanca was able to stay with Balmorhea thanks to some lay-ups by Alex Jackson, who finished with 11 points. But the third period was mostly a series of steals and fast-break lay-ups for the Bears, who scored 14 points over the first six minutes of the quarter before Sierra Blanca got on the scoreboard.
The Bears would again use their starters and reserves in the final period, though this time the Vaqueros could manage only a lay-up by Jackson after all of their players had to go the distance without any rest, while Robert Vasquez and Juan Baeza hit the final two 3-pointers of the night for Balmorhea.
“They’ve been carrying about 8-10 players, but some of their guys failed, and I don’t know what happened to the other players,” said Garcia about the Vaqueros, who were whistled for only six fouls on the night.
The win gave the Bears a 1-1 district record and an 9-8 season mark going into an open date on Friday. Balmorhea’s next game is at home next Tuesday night against the Fort Davis Indians.
SIERRA BLANCA (26)
French 1 2-5 5; Marta 2 0-2 4; Franco 1 0-0 3; Ramirez 1 0-0 3; Jackson 5 1-6 11. Totals 10 3-13 26.
BALMORHEA (84)
Rodriguez 4 0-0 9; C. Baeza 2 0-0 5; Machuca 9 2-5 22; J. Baeza 2 0-0 5; Hernandez 2 0-0 4; Mendoza 9 0-0 21; Vasquez 2 3-4 8; Dominguez 5 0-0 10. Totals 35 5-9 84.
Sierra Blanca 8 12 4 2 -- 26
Balmorhea 27 16 25 16 -- 84
Three-point goals: Sierra Blanca 3 (French, Franco, Ramirez), Balmorhea 9 (Mendoza 3, Machuca 2, Rodriguez, C. Baeza, J. Baeza, Vasquez). Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Sierra Blanca 6, Balmorhea 12.
Buzzer shot fails to fall for Balmorhea in loss
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Balmorhea Bears girls’ basketball team couldn’t get many shots inside against the Sierra Blanca Vaqueros. But they got the shot they wanted in the final second of their game Tuesday night, only to see it fail to go in.
The Bears suffered their second straight two-point loss at home in District 9-A play, this time by a 33-31 score to Sierra Blanca. Sandy Rodriguez hit a side jumper with 12 seconds to play for the Vaqueros, and then Lorissa Rodriguez couldn’t hit a lay-up off an inbounds play with 0.7 second remaining, after a three-point play by Rodriguez with 20.3 seconds left had tied the score.
“I knew it was going to be tough with their tall girl in there,” coach Abel Garcia said of the Vaqueros’ Bianca Ohl. “She’s not much of an offensive threat, but she still gets a lot of rebounds, and she’s just a freshman, so she’s going to get better.”
Ohl only had six points, but she and teammate Kim Frenett came up with a series of rebounds that kept the Bears from getting any second-chance opportunities most of the night. Meanwhile, Rodriguez had seven early points in the game, as the Vaqueros went out to an 11-0 lead in the opening period.
Katrina Beltran banked in a shot with 1:23 to play to finally get the Bears on the scoreboard, and with Rodriguez getting into early foul trouble Sierra Blanca’s offense slowed down while Balmorhea went on a 16-3 run, tying the game on a three-point play by Rodriguez and taking the lead at 16-14 on a basket by Lavannie Sanchez.
Savannah Matta also had a 3-pointer and two foul shots during that run, but in the second half the Vaqueros began shadowing her with a defender across the court while the other four players remained in a zone defense, and that helped slow down Balmorhea’s offense. Matta would have only two lay-ups, one off a steal, in the second half, and struggled to get off any open shots in the final two periods.
Meanwhile, Sierra Blanca struggled with their shooting from the foul line, which kept the Bears in the game. Rodriguez finished with 16 points, but was only 5-for-14 from the line, and the Vaqueros were just 6-for-28 overall, while Balmorhea hit 11 of their 18 free throws.
Two of the five shots Rodriguez did hit came with 4:29 to play and put Sierra Blanca ahead to stay, at 29-28. The Vaqueros would miss eight free throws the rest of the way, but did widen their lead to three on a basket by Samantha Rose with 1:40 remaining. Several of those foul shots came following steals by Sierra Blanca, as the Bears had problems getting off any shots aside from their rebounding difficulties.
“We were just careless. On two or three of those steals, we just didn’t protect the ball,” Garcia said.
After Rodriguez’ tying basket and foul shot off one of the Bears’ rare second chance shots, Sierra Blanca came quickly downcourt and got the ball to Rodriguez, who hit from about eight feet away. The Bears then missed their chance as the clock ran down, but the ball was knocked out of bounds by the Vaqueros with 0.7 seconds left. After a time-out, the Bears were able to get Rodriguez open on the left side of the basket, but her lay-up hit the front of the rim and bounced away as time expired.
Rodriguez ended up with 12 points and Matta had 10 for the Bears, who will get another chance to win their first district game at home next Tuesday, when they host Fort Davis.
SIERRA BLANCA (33)
Barrow 0 0-0 0; Rodriguez 5 5-14 16; Ohl 3 0-4 6; Frenett 1 1-2 3; Rose 3 0-5 6; Zimmerman 0 0-0 0; Hernandez 1 0-3 2. Totals 13 6-28 33.
BALMORHEA (31)
Carrasco 0 0-0 0; Beltran 2 0-0 4; Sanchez 2 0-0 4; Lopez 0 2-2 2; Matta 3 3-4 10; Lujan 0 0-2 0; Garcia 0 0-0 0; Orosco 0 0-0 0; Rodriguez 3 6-10 12; Mendoza 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 11-18 31.
Sierra Blanca 11 7 9 6 -- 33
Balmorhea 4 14 6 7 -- 31
Three-point goals: Sierra Blanca 1 (Rodriguez), Balmorhea 1 (Matta). Technical foul: Sierra Blanca: Coach Virdell. Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Sierra Blanca 17, Balmorhea 20.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2003-04 by Pecos Enterprise
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