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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, February 5, 2001
Lobos' rally downs Eagles
PECOS, Feb. 5, 2001 -- The Pecos Eagles surprised the El Paso Mountain
View Lobos in the first half of their game Friday night, but the surprise
wasn't big enough to keep Mountain View from coming back in the second
half to beat the Eagles by a 51-46 final score.
Pecos put in 18 points in the first period and held a 30-18 halftime lead,
only to see Mountain view wipe that out with a 15-3 advantage in the third
quarter. The Lobos then won the game from the foul line in the final period,
hitting nine of their 13 attempts while the Eagles connected on just five
of 15 tries in the final eight minutes.
"When we came out I don't think Mountain View knew what hit them," said
Eagles' coach Veronica Valenzuela said. "We really didn't have to run our
offense in the first half, because most of our points came off the press
break."
However, while the Eagles were able to break the press in the first two
periods, Valenzuela said they didn't adjust to the Lobos changes in the third
period and didn't adjust to having the lead.
"I told them at halftime they needed to slow things down and run some
time off the clock in the third quarter, but we started rushing things against,
and we weren't breaking the press the way we did in the first half," she
said, adding that guards Kathy Maldonado and Marisela Arenivas both got into
foul trouble in the second half.
Pecos' only basket in the third period was by Philly Fobbs, who ended
up with a game-high 22 points, but she was one of the Eagles who ran into
problems at the foul line, hitting only 4-of-10 shots, while Arenivas scored
13 points, but was just 7-for-16 from the line.
Mountain View improved to 6-3 in District 2-4A, while Pecos fell to 4-5,
a game behind Canutillo in the battle for the final playoff berth. The Eagles
close out their regular season schedule at home on Tuesday against San Elizario,
while Canutillo faces Clint. If Pecos and Clint win on Tuesday, the Eagles
would then face Canutillo in a one-game playoff for the third place bi-district
playoff spot.
Inoffensive first half dooms Pecos
PECOS, Feb. 5, 2001 -- A lack of scoring continued to be the Pecos Eagles'
biggest problem on Friday night, as they remained winless in District 2-4A
boys basketball play after a 48-35 loss in El Paso to the Mountain View Lobos.
This time, the scoring problems were focused on the first half, when the
Eagles managed just two points in the opening period and found themselves
down by a 24-10 score at halftime. The Eagles were able to more than double
that in the third quarter, when they scored 15 points, but the Lobos were
still able to add another 24 points during the final two periods, which was
too much for the Eagles to overcome.
Aaron Garcia, who did not play in last month's 45-40 win by the Lobos
in Pecos, led all scorers on Friday with 16 points, while Rudy Meja added
12 for Mountain View, which improved to 2-5 in district play. Saul Garcia
was the only Pecos player in double figures finishing with 12 points.
The loss dropped the Eagles to 0-7 in 2-4A and 4-18 on the season going
into their final two home games this week, on Tuesday against San Elizario
and Friday versus Clint. San Elizario defeated Canutillo on Friday 50-46
to tie them for second in the 2-4A standings, while Fabens is alone in first
place at a 71-67 win at Clint.
Bears score sweep at Sierra Blanca
PECOS, Feb. 5, 2001 -- The Balmorhea Bears clinched the District 9-A boys
basketball title Friday night, while Balmorhea's girls clinched a spot in
the Class A small school playoffs, as both teams came away with a pair of
victories on the road over the Sierra Blanca Vaqueros.
Balmorhea's boys improved to 7-0 in district thanks to another fourth
quarter rally, as they defeated Sierra Blanca by a 71-54 final score, while
the girls jumped out to an early lead on the Vaqueros, then survived a third
quarter rally by Sierra Blanca to win by a 47-35 final score.
"We had a 22-12 halftime lead and then in the first couple of minutes
of the third quarter that made a run," said Bears' coach Gary Gallego. "Halfway
through the third quarter they actually closed the gap to 24-20."
But Gallego said the Bears were able to recover after a time-out, and
went back in front by seven at the end of the period, then outscored the
Vaqueros 18-13 in the final period.
Terry Hernandez led Balmorhea with 28 points, 19 coming in the second
half, while Celina Rodriguez finished with 12 points and 25 rebounds. "Julia
Garlick had 12 rebounds," Gallego said. "Our rebounding was a big part of
the game from the third quarter up. We were only giving them one shot at
the basket."
The win improved Balmorhea's record to 13-8 on the season. They still
have a chance to tie Dell City for first place in the district standings
if they can beat the Cougars on the road this Friday, but before then, Gallego
said the Bears will play a non-district game against Fort Hancock in Balmorhea
on Tuesday, starting at 6 p.m. Fort Hancock is in the large school playoffs
in Class A, the first year that division has been divided into large- and
small-school brackets.
Gallego said if the Bears win on Friday, they'd either have a coin flip
to decide playoff seeding or have a one-game playoff on Saturday in Van Horn.
Balmorhea's boys will wait until next week before adding any pre-playoff
games. They'll try to finish out district unbeaten in Dell City on Friday,
after using a 23-point final period to break away from Sierra Blanca.
"This time we also had 22 points in the second quarter, which is the most
we've had in that quarter," said coach Adolfo Garcia. "This was probably
our best game since the Van Horn Tournament before Christmas. We out-rebounded
them 42-27."
Isaiah Rodriguez led all scorers with 30 points, while Jourmain Matta
added 12 points and Jerry Mendoza 10 for the Bears, who improved to 15-3
on the season.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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