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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Pecos squanders leads, falls to Presidio, 58-55
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagles survived blowing a big lead to the Presidio Blue Devils
earlier this year, but apparently didn't learn a lesson.
Pecos had beaten Presidio twice before District 4-3A play began, despite
losing an 18-point lead in one of those games. Tuesday night, the Eagles
blew two smaller leads to Presidio and had to stage a big comeback of their
own, only to fall apart once again in the closing minutes and lose to the
Blue Devils, 58-55, at the Pecos High School gym.
"They wanted it more than we did and they out-hustled us," said coach
Joe Flores, whose team managed just two points in the final 4:03 of the
game, after rallying from a 10-point deficit to take a 53-47 lead. "Give
Presidio credit. They knocked down some shots when they had to, and we didn't
get the job done."
Blue Devils' guard Jacob Ramirez was the player the Eagles had the most
problems with. He consistently was able to fake out the Eagles' defense
in the first half, feeding sophomore post Hector Rodriguez for most of his
17 first half points, , and then scored seven of his 14 points down the
stretch, including a 3-pointer and two lay-ups off steals before feeding
Adrian Covos for a lay-up that cut the margin to one, at 55-54, with two
minutes to play.
After another miss by Pecos, Ivan Carrasco put Presidio ahead to stay
with 1:32 to play on a foul line jumper. Joey Ortega then missed on a lay-up
for Pecos, and the Blue Devils were able to run 45 seconds off the clock
before Jesse Flores missed on a lay-up try with 35 seconds to play. Pecos
got the ball back, but with 21 seconds left Jose Reyes had the ball stolen
at midcourt by Carrasco.
Flores ended up getting fouled, and missed the front end of a one-and-one,
giving the Eagles one more chance, but this time it was an officials' call
that did in Pecos, as John Parent was ruled to have touched a ball deflected
out of bounds by Ramirez. John Bull was then fouled with 4.9 seconds to
play and made both his free throws, and a 25-foot attempt by Ortega at the
buzzer hit the left rim and bounced away.
"What happened in the fourth quarter was we got to the crunch time and
they hit some shots and we didn't," said Flores.
During the game, the Eagles were unable to play at a slower tempo on
offense without seeing the rest of their game stumble against the quicker
Blue Devils. Pecos pushed the ball upcourt at the outset of play, and used
three Isaiah Armendariz baskets plus rebound lay-ups by Jason Sanchez and
Parent to grab a 10-2 lead. But once they slowed things down, the Blue Devils
took control of play, outscoring Pecos over one stretch 28-10 to grab a
30-20 lead.
Down 32-24 at the half, the Eagles were again forced to pick up the tempo
and responded by outscoring the Blue Devils in the third period, 22-8. Ortega
had a series of lay-ups during that run, while Armendariz and Reyes scored
on drives to the basket, as Rodriguez got into foul trouble and ended up
being held scoreless in the second half.
Reyes' basket put Pecos ahead 40-38 and the Eagles would end the period
up 46-40 on a pair of Justin Lara baskets. But after widening the lead to
49-42 on a Reyes 3-pointer Bull responded with a 3-point jumper of his own.
Armendariz followed with a short jumper and put two free throws after that,
but in between Ramirez began taking over again, stealing the ball from Armendariz
and scoring as the Eagles tried to run time off the scoreboard and lost
their momentum again.
Armednariz led all scorers with 21 points and Ortega had 10, but Armedariz
was the only Pecos player to hit a foul shot on Tuesday, going 5-for-6 while
his teammates were 1-for-7. "I told them we can't rely on Isaiah for all
our points. Somebody's got to help with the scoring," said Flores.
Jesse Flores also was in double figures with 10 points for Presidio,
which won its first district game in three years. The Blue Devils are now
1-1 in district, while the Eagles fell to 0-2 going into Friday night's game
at Kermit.
Presidio also won Tuesday's freshman game over Pecos, 47-33, while the
Eagles' junior varsity downed the Blue Devils, 49-47. Luis Licon scored
17 points to lead the ninth graders and Saul Pina led the JV with 20 points.
PRESIDIO (58)
Venegas 1 0-0 2; Flores 4 1-2 10; Lopez 0 0-0 0; Carrasco 3 0-0 6; Ramirez
6 0-0 14; Rodriguez 8 1-2 17; Dominguez 0 2-2 2; Covos 1 0-0 2; Bull 2 2-2
7. Totals 25 6-8 58.
PECOS (55)
Sanchez 1 0-0 2; Parada 1 0-0 2; Armendariz 8 5-6 21; Mendoza 0 0-0 0;
Reyes 2 0-1 5; Hinojoz 1 1-2 3; Lara 3 0-1 6; Parent 3 0-1 6; Ortega 5 0-2
10. Totals 24 6-13 55.
Presidio 8 24 8 18 _ 58
Pecos 10 14 22 9 _ 55
Three-point goals: Presido 4 (Ramirez 2, Flores, Bull), Pecos 1 (Reyes).
Fouled out; Pecos, Reyes. Total fouls: Presidio 14, Pecos 14.
Eagles open district tennis with 10-9 win
The odds were against the Pecos Eagles _ literally _ on the girls' side
Tuesday afternoon in their District 4-3A tennis opener against the Monahans
Loboes.
But despite the absence of several players, the Eagles were able to get
enough wins on the girls' side to combine with the victories by Pecos' boys
to give them a 10-9 victory over Monahans on the Loboes' home court.
"We were missing girls big time. My No. 1, 5, 7 and 9 girls were out,"
said Eagles' coach Mike Ortiz. "I had to move up my No. 2 girls to 1, my
No. 6 girl to No. 4 and move my No. 5 to 5 and my 10 to No. 6. So there
was a lot of playing out of position by them."
All the lineup changes helped Monahans sweep all three of the varsity
girls' doubles matches. "It didn't look good for us, but they came through,"
in singles play, Ortiz said, as the Eagles were able to split the six matches.
"We were tied 9-9, but my No. 5 girl (Imari Ornelas) who's a freshman
pulled out a tiebreaker 10-8, so we had a 10-9 victory," the Eagles' coach
said. Ornelas rallied to defeat Laura Ramirez, 4-6, 6-4, 10-8, while Jennifer
Rayos, playing at No. 2 seed, defeated Trina Escamilla in three sets, 4-6,
6-4, 10-4, and Beatrice Villarreal won at No. 4 seed over Ann Lunar, 6-3,
6-2.
Ortiz said he was missing one boy due to grades, but despite that, Pecos
was still able to take six of nine matches, and also won the mixed doubles
match. Ornelas and Orlando Mendoza won that one, 6-3, 7-5 over Nathan Pritchard
and Liz Bouquin.
"I had a couple of guys I wasn't expecting to do that well who came through
with victories," he said, citing Frankie Hernandez, who moved up one spot
from No. 7 seed to No. 6 and downed Simon Leyva, 6-3, 6-4, and Donald Walker,
who also moved up one spot to No. 7 and beat Corbin Shawn, 6-3, 3-6, 10-5,
though that match did not count towards the final varsity score.
Including the JV matches, the Eagles still ended up with a one-match
win, 12-11.
Trent Graham, Michael Orona and Joe Sotelo won both their singles and
doubles matches on the day for the varsity, though Orona's singles victory
was by default. Sotelo won 6-1, 6-1 over John Wilhelm and Graham blanked
Quad Ledingham, 6-0, 6-0.
"This was a very important match for us to win, because our next match
is against Fort Stockton and that will decide who's seeded 1 or 2," Ortiz
said. Unlike in Class 5A or 4A, where the top two seeds advance to regionals,
the Eagles coach said, "In Class 3A everyone goes, but it's important how
you're seeded, because the higher you are the better match you get."
Pecos' next match is on Saturday, Jan. 25 at home against Fort Stockton,
and Ortiz hopes all of his girls will be back for that contest. "I really
haven't had a full team for the entire season, so I don't know how good
we can be. Hopefully I'll have everyone out this time."
Pecos (10/12) at Monahans (9/11)
Boys Singles
Trent Graham defeated Quad Ledingham, 6-0, 6-0; Jay Dannelley lost to
Nolan Pritchard, 1-6, 6-4, 10-5; Michael Orona defeated Zack Oliver by default;
Orlando Mendoza lost to Isaac Oyerbides, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6; Joel Sotelo defeated
John Wilhelm, 6-1, 6-1; Frankie Hernandez defeated Simon Leyva, 6-3, 6-4.
JV _ Donald Walker defeated Corbin Shawn, 6-2, 6-3; Danny Lujan lost
to Jacob Kesey, 6-4, 6-4.
Girls Singles
Elizabeth Carreon lost to Kristi Gatzky, 6-1, 6-1; Jennifer Rayos defeated
Trina Escamilla, 4-6, 6-4, 10-4; Amanda Fleming lost to Irene Blocker, 6-3,
6-3; Beatrice Villarreal defeated Ann Lunar, 6-3, 6-2; Imari Ornelas defeated
Laura Ramirez, 4-6, 6-4; 10-8; Adrienne Natividad lost to Wanda Ramirez,
6-3, 6-4.
JV _ Sara Natividad defeated Angela Montoya, 6-1, 6-2; Rachel Rubio lost
to Liz Bouquin, 6-0, 6-3.
Boys Doubles
Graham and Dannelley defeated Ledingham and Oliver, 5-7, 6-4, 10-4; Orona
and Sotelo defeated Oyerbides and Wilhelm, 6-4, 6-3; Hernandez and Walker
lost to Leyva and Shawn, 6-4, 6-3.
Girls Doubles
Carreon and Rayos lost to Gatski and Lunar, 6-3, 6-4; Fleming and Villarreal
lost to Escamilla and Blocker, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0; A. Natividad and S. Natividad
lost to L. Ramirez and W. Ramirez, 6-2, 4-6, 10-7.
Mixed Doubles
Mendoza and Ornelas defeated Pritchard and Bouquin, 6-3, 7-5.
Eagles rout Blue Devils, end district loss streak
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
Two foul shots every minute during a basketball game doesn't sound like
much, until you start squeezing them all into two quarters and take time
out to go to the line for the shots.
That's pretty much how the Pecos Eagles and Presidio Blue Devils spent
the second and fourth quarters of their game Tuesday night at the Pecos
High School gym, but as it turned out, it was a series of baskets at the
start of the first period and at the end of the third quarter by Pecos that
helped them pull away from Presidio and earn a 65-39 victory, snapping a
13-game district losing streak for the Eagles.
"We started slacking off and playing to their level, but I'll take a win,"
said coach Veronica Valenzuela. It was Pecos' fourth win in the past two
years over Presidio, but the girls' first district win since the next-to-last
game of the 2000-2001 season, when the Eagles were a member of District
2-4A.
The game itself lasted almost two hours, but it took Pecos all of four
seconds to take the lead for good in the game, as Stephanie Herrera scored
on a lay-up after grabbing the opening tip from Tiana Terry. That would start
a 17-2 run by the Eagles over the first six minutes of play, but for the
next two quarters, the Blue Devils would stay with Pecos, and even cut down
the 15-point margin to as little as nine in the second period, and down
to 12 in the third quarter, after Pecos had widened the gap back to as many
as 19 just before halftime.
However, a 12-0 run in the final two minutes of the third quarter, including
six points in the final 20 seconds of play, doubled the Eagles' margin to
24-points, at 52-28, as the third quarter ended, and the fourth period was
spent mostly trading foul shots, as two players for each team would foul
out before the game was over.
"We actually ran our offense, and did a better job not rushing things,
and we were more aggressive going to the basket," Valenzuela said. "We were
also a little bit more comfortable running the press break."
Leslie Rodriguez, who had 21 points in the Eagles' 58-44 win over Presidio
back in November, led all scorers again with 15 points, over half coming
during the opening 17-2 run. Presidio was able to cut into that gap as the
first period ended and the second quarter began, after post Karla Garcia
entered the lineup. Her 3-point play midway through the second period cut
the lead back to 19-10, but two baskets and a pair of free throws by Jessica
Martinez allowed the Eagles to widen the lead back to 25-14, and the Eagles
would widen that to as much as 19, at 35-16, before Christi Carrasco hit
a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer.
A rebound lay-up off a steal by Garcia would get the Blue Devils to within
12 late in the third period, but once again, Pecos was able to respond with
their 12-0 run to close the period. Danielle Garcia had two baskets during
the run, the second on a steal off an inbounds play following an Erica Franco
basket. Stephanie Herrera then scored on a full court drive after another
steal with two seconds left in the period.
Garcia finished tied with Terry for second high-scorer for the Eagles
with 11 points, despite struggling from the line. The sophomore went 5-for-18
from the line, as part of an overall 17-for-38 night for Pecos. Presidio
went 13-for-27 from the line in the game.
Karla Garcia, who didn't start for Presidio for disciplinary reasons,
ended up as the Blue Devils' leading scorer with 11 points. The win lifted
the Eagles to 1-3 in District 4-3A play and 7-9 on the season, while Presidio
fell to 0-4 in district play. The Blue Devils did win Tuesday's junior varsity
game, by a 23-20 final score. Kristi Contreras led Pecos with seven points.
The Eagles will go to Kermit on Friday to face the Yellowjackets to close
out the first half of the District 4-3A schedule.
PRESIDIO (39)
Medrano 2 2-2 6; Chavez 0 3-6 3; Ramirez 0 0-0 0; Telles 0 1-2 1; Lujan
2 0-0 4; A. Carrasco 2 2-2 7; C. Carrasco 3 0-4 7; Tavarez 0 0-0 0; Garcia
3 5-9 11. Totals 12 13-27 39.
PECOS (65)
Rodriguez 7 1-2 15; Franco 1 4-4 6; Ornelas 1 0-0 2; Martinez 0 1-3 1;
Herrera 5 0-0 10; Martinez 3 3-4 9; Garcia 3 5-18 11; Terry 4 3-7 11. Totals
24 17-38 65.
Presidio 5 14 9 11 _ 39
Pecos 18 17 17 13 _ 65
Three-point goals: Presidio 2 (A. Carrasco, C. Carrasco). Fouled out:
Presidio, Lujan, A. Carrasco. Pecos, Mendoza, Terry. Total fouls: Presidio
27, Pecos 24.
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 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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