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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Monday, January 19, 2004
Scoring fails Eagles at start, finish of game
After getting blanked in the first quarter of their game Friday
night against the Greenwood Rangerettes, the Pecos Eagles didn't figure
to have much of a chance to come back and win their District 4-3A
match-up at the Pecos High School gym.
But the Eagles would hold Greenwood to just 17 points over the next
19 minutes of the game, and were down by just eight points with 5:16
left to play, after a free throw by Danielle Garcia. That cut the lead
to 33-25, before Pecos' scoring problems returned, as they went without
a point over the next 4 1/2 minutes, which allowed the Rangerettes to
regain control and come away with a 44-29 victory over the Eagles.
"I think it comes down to pressure and a lack of mental toughness,"
said Eagles' coach Veronica Valenzuela. "That's the only way to explain
it. We did a good job coming back, but we don't have the momentum to
follow through. The same thing happened in Fort Stockton. We make a
mistake and it dominoes."
Valenzuela said Garcia sat out the first quarter of Friday's game
due to unspecified problems, and her absence at guard helped Greenwood
keep the Eagles from getting over all but a handful of shots in the
opening eight minutes of play. Katie Howard had a couple of baskets and
a free throw and Ana Ruegers had a pair of baskets inside for
Greenwood, while Candace Johannsen scored directly off a steal during
the opening period.
Vanessa Garcia finally got Pecos on the scoreboard with 7:28 left in
the second period on a short jumper, and the teams swapped baskets over
the rest of the period, which ended with Greenwood still ahead by 15
points, at 27-12.
Garcia had a couple of baskets to open the third period, and Pecos
would finally get the lead back into single digits with 1:55 left in
the period on a pair of foul shots by Adriana Armendariz. The Eagles
also benefited from 2-for-9 foul shooting by Greenwood during the third
period and the early part of the fourth quarter. That helped narrow the
margin to eight, but with a chance to cut the lead down to six Pecos
turned the ball over and Howard hit a jumper to give the Rangerettes a
35-25 lead.
Johannsen then hit a pair of free throws after a missed Pecos shot,
and Kim Smith followed with a lay-up off another Eagle miss, and the
lead was back up to 12 with just under four minutes to play. Jaymie
Flowers and Amy Hopper followed with rebound baskets, before Leslie
Rodriguez finally broke the string with a lay-up with 35 seconds
remaining in the game.
"We were standing there watching and not helping out," Valenzuela
said of the Rangerettes' late rebound advantage. "It's the same thing
I've told them since the start of the season. Every time the other team
gets a rebound second shot, they're going to have to run to motive
them.
The loss left Pecos with a 0-3 record in district and a 3-14 record
for the season, while Greenwood improved to 2-1 in district and 9-12 on
the season. The Eagles' next game is Tuesday night in Presidio against
the Blue Devils. Presidio is also 0-3 on the season and lost at home to
the Eagles in a non-district game the opening week of the season.
GREENWOOD (44)
Ruegers 2 0-0 4; Etheridge 0 0-0 0; Lopez 1 1-2 3; Smith 3 1-3 7;
Howard 3 2-4 8; Flowers 2 0-3 4; Presley 3 0-0 6; Johannsen 3 3-4 9;
Mitchell 0 0-2 0; Hopper 1 1-4 3. Totals 18 8-22 44.
PECOS (29)
Rodriguez 6 1-3 13; Carrasco 0 0-0 0; D. Garcia 3 2-6 8; M. Mendoza
0 0-0 0; Valdez 0 0-0 0; O. Mendoza 0 0-0 0; V. Garcia 1 1-3 3;
Armendariz 1 3-3 5; Mazone 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 7-14 29.
Greenwood 16 11 6 11 44
Pecos 0 12 10 7 29
Three-point goals: None. Fouled out: Pecos, None. Total fouls:
Greenwood 18, Pecos 17.
Greenwood rolls over Pecos in 4-3A opener
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
If only the Pecos Eagles could have gotten the Greenwood Rangers to try
and dunk a little more, the Eagles might have had a better chance in
Friday night's District 4-3A opening basketball game. But the fact the
Rangers had any chances to dunk at all was part of the Eagles' problems
against the third-ranked Rangers.
Greenwood's size inside got the Rangers off to a strong start, and
despite clanging both their dunk attempts off the rim, the Rangers hit
enough lay-ups and jumpers against Pecos to more than make up for those
mistakes, as Greenwood also took advantage of a series of Eagle
turnovers to score an east 70-27 win at the Pecos High School gym.
"We were scared out there and we played scared," said Eagles' coach
Joe Flores. "We played like an elementary team out there."
Pecos didn't have the size to match up with Greenwood's 6-foot-6
post Shane McNeely, who had two of his three of his baskets in the game
in the opening period. Forward Jimmy Brooks and post Matt Bass also
were able to get inside several times for baskets, while Brooks also
scored from the outside as well as part of a game-high 17 point night.
But it was the baskets off turnovers that Flores was the least happy
about. In a game similar to the Eagles' season-opening loss to
Lovington, N.M., Pecos' players threw too many soft passes, while other
Eagle players failed to move toward the ball on passes, with the result
being a series of turnovers that led to uncontested lay-ups.
"When you play the No. 3-ranked team in the state, if you can't take
care of the ball you're not going to have a happy ending," Flores said.
"Our game play was to spread it out and get the ball to Oscar
(Parada), but we just couldn't handle the pressure enough to get the
ball in there," he added.
Parada took about as much of a beating on the court Friday as he did
playing quarterback against Greenwood back in November. That included
getting poked in the eye by a Rangers' player just over two minutes
into the game, and getting thrown to the floor on rebound battles
several other times on the night.
The senior did return from his eye injury late in the first period
to hit a 3-point, which helped keep the Eagles in the game for a while.
They trailed 16-7 after one period, and Parada then hit a lay-up to
open the second period and narrow the gap to seven. But Ky Smith then
hit a jumper and McNeely followed with a lay-up, and the Rangers went
on an 18-0 run that didn't end until Parada hit another lay-up just
before halftime.
Greenwood then scored the first 12 points of the second half, all by
Smith and Brooks, before the Eagles would score again, off a Justin
Lara lay-up. The Rangers ended the quarter up by 40, and would get
their largest lead of 43 points twice in the final period, including at
the end on a couple of baskets by Brian Zachary.
"The one thing I told them is we're not going to play anyone better
in district than Greenwood," said Flores. "I think we can beat those
other teams, but we've got to get better at making our shots and
passing the basketball."
Parada ended up as the only Pecos player in double figures with 13
points. The loss dropped Pecos to 7-13 on the season, while Greenwood
improved to 14-3. The Eagles go on the road Tuesday night to take on
Presidio, then return home on Friday against Kermit.
Greenwood also won Friday's freshman game, by a 54-38 score, and
took the junior varsity contest, 32-22. Chris Garnto and Lucas Macha
led the ninth graders with 11 points apiece and Javier Mendoza led the
JV with eight.
GREENWOOD (70)
Smith 4 1-1 10; Hatley 3 0-0 6; Zachary 3 0-0 7; Valencia 3 2-2 10;
Caver 2 0-0 4; Gasser 0 0-0 0; Woolfolk 0 0-0 0; Brooks 8 0-2 17;
McNeely 3 2-2 8; Bass 4 0-0 8. Totals 30 5-7 70.
PECOS (27)
Parada 6 0-0 13; Morales 0 1-2 1; Pina 0 0-0 0; J. Reyes 1 0-0 3;
Licon 0 0-0 0; Lara 3 1-2 7; V. Reyes 1 1-2 3; Mendoza 0 0-0 0. Totals
11 3-6 27.
Greenwood 16 11 6 11 44
Pecos 0 12 10 7 29
Three-point goals: None. Fouled out: Pecos, None. Total fouls:
Greenwood 18, Pecos 17.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
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 by Pecos Enterprise
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