Area Newspaper and Travel Guide for Reeves County, Ward County, Trans-Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

Sports

Friday, December 19, 1997

Eagles' Marquez earns second all-state honor

PECOS, Dec. 19 -- Pecos Eagles middle hitter Lori Marquez
was named to the second team All-Stat Class 4A volleyball
team on Thursday by the Texas Sports Writers Association,
the second year in a row the senior was selected to the
squad.

The choice was actually a slight step down for Marquez,
after she took a step up last month, when the All-District
4-4A team was announced. Marquez earned Most Valuable Player
honors there, after missing out a year ago, while earning
first team honors from the TSWA last season.

She was the Eagles' team leader in both kills and blocks for
the past three seasons, with Pecos earning playoff berths
each of the past two years. Marquez had 225 kills and 71
blocks in 1997, as the Eagles finished with a 17-12 record.

Andrews' Ali Bane and Holly Fields and San Angelo Lake
View's Hillary Lee were honorable mentions on the Class 4A
squad.

Other area picks were Greenwood's Karen Gasch on the first
team, teammate Mandy Choate and Alpine's Adrienne Reyes on
the second team and Monahans' Tracie Jasso honorable mention
in Class 3A, while the Balmorhea Bears' district rivals Wink
and Marathon each placed one player on the Class a first
team. The Wildcats were represented by Jess Anne Fernandes
while the Mustangs put Toni Aguilar on the squad.

Another district rival, Grandfalls' Laura Porras, was an
honorable mention in Class A, while Fort Davis had Adrana
Martinez on the second team and Jessica Whitely as honorable
mention.

Eagles take on Rangers, Cranes

PECOS, Dec. 19 -- The Pecos Eagle girls will be hoping for
the same luck tonight in Crane that they had two weeks ago.
Pecos' boys, meanwhile, will be hoping for the same score --
but not the same luck -- as they experienced in their last
trip to Greenwood, when both teams close out the
pre-Christmas portions of their 1997-98 basketball schedules
with road games tonight.

Pecos' girls go to Crane, where they'll seek their second
win in just over two weeks against the Golden Cranes, while
the boys will try for their sixth straight victory tonight
in Greenwood against the Rangers. Play opens in Crane at
3:30 p.m. with the freshman matchup, followed by the junior
varsity and varsity games at 5 and 6:30 p.m. The boys will
play their ninth grade, JV and varsity contests at 4:30, 6
and 7:30 p.m.

The girls are 5-7 on the year, but come off a 48-34 victory
over host Monahans last Saturday in the third place game of
the Sandhills Tournament, and the previous week placed
second in Crane's West Texas Shootout. That included a 61-49
victory over the Cranes, in which the Eagles jumped out to a
12-3 lead after one period, and were up by as many as 15
points in the second half.

Lori Marquez had 19 points and Shea Lara 15, while Jessica
Esparza and former Pecosite Denisa Ward led the Cranes with
17 and 14 points. Esparza had 10 points on Thursday, as
Crane raised its record to 3-9 with a 26-23 win at McCamey.

Pecos' boys have yet to play Greenwood this year, but
definitely don't want a repeat of last season's game on the
Rangers' home court. Guard Nufie Flores fractured his
kneecap during pre-game warmups and was lost for the season,
although the Eagles were still able to score a 74-71
overtime victory against the Rangers.

Pecos comes off a first place finish last week in their own
West of the Pecos Shootout, downing Lydia Patterson
Institute in the finals by a 65-56 score. Omar Hinojos,
Jacob Chavez and Fernando Navarrette were named to the
all-tournament team, as the Eagles raised their record to
8-5 on the season.

Greenwood has been up-and-down so far this season. They come
in off a 58-48 loss on Monday at Denver City, in which they
scored 23 points in the second period, and single digits in
the other three periods. John Settles put in 17 points to
lead the Rangers, while another former Pecosite, guard
Andrew Wootan, added 12 points.

Both Pecos teams will have all next week off, before
returning to play just prior to New Year's Day. The boys
will again go to the Reagan County Tournament in Big Lake on
Dec. 29-31, while Pecos' girls will resume play with a
rematch against Monahans on Dec. 30.

Bears seek third title of season

PECOS, Dec. 19 -- The Balmorhea Bears will be trying for
their third boys basketball tournament title in as many
weeks starting this afternoon, when they begin play in the
Van Horn Tournament.

Balmorhea's girls, meanwhile, will try to repeat their first
round results from a week ago, when they open play in Van
Horn jut after noon today.

The undefeated Bears will try for their 10th win of the
season when they take on the Presidio Blue Devils in a 2
p.m. start, after the girls face the Tornillo Wildcats at
12:30 p.m.

The boys have had little trouble so far this season, and
come off last weekend's victory at the Longhorn Classic in
Buena Vista. The Bears downed Jal, N.M., Fort Stockton's
junior varsity and the host Longhorns on the way to the
title, after taking first the week before in Sanderson.

Balmorhea's girls defeated Buena Vista in the first round
last week, but then were beaten by Sanderson and Jal and
finished fourth in the tournament. The 1-2 weekend left the
Bears with a 3-6 mark for the season.

Its the first meeting of the year for the Bears and
Wildcats, while the boys will go for their second victory in
10 days over Presidio, who they defeated Dec. 9 on the Blue
Devils' home court, 55-41. Presidio comes in off a 1-2
weekend at the West of the Pecos Shootout, losing to Odessa
High's JV, 66-57, and to Pecos, 75-70, then defeating the
Eagles' split varsity by a 68-37 final score.

Denison, Texas City top Class 4A grid team

DALLAS, Dec. 19 (AP) -- Texas City, which won a state title
last weekend, and Denison, which will be playing in its
third straight final this weekend, each placed three players
on the Texas Associated Press Sports Editors Class 4A
all-state team released Thursday.

Linebacker Everick Rawls, defensive lineman Jermain Anderson
and defensive back Joe Grant all made the first-team off the
Texas City squad that defeated Corsicana 37-34 in last
Saturday's Division I final. Rawls also was voted the
defensive player of the year.

Andrews was the only District 4-4A team with two
first-teamers, in junior running back Shaud Williams and
senior defensive back Waylon Mayfield. San Angelo Lake View
receiver Jorge Villarreal was also a first team pick, while
Sweetwater linebacker Jonathan Palafox was a second team
selection.

Texas City coach Rusty Dowling described Rawls and Anderson
as ``the kind of guys you have to have to win state
championships.'' He added that Grant, who also starts at
receiver, ``has probably been involved in as many or more
big plays than anybody we have.''

Denison, which faces La Marque in the Division II
championship Saturday, was represented by offensive lineman
Chad Carlat, running back Chris Robertson and defensive
lineman Aaron Hunt.

``They're all very deserving kids,'' said Denison coach Bob
Brown, whose 15-0 team finished the regular season ranked
No. 1 in the AP poll. ``They all stepped up their
performance every year and every week in our program. I
think all three are legitimate Division I recruits.''

La Marque had no first-teamers, while Corsicana's lone
honoree was offensive lineman Billy Yates. Yates was the
only player on last year's first-team offense to make it
back. Jacksonville linebacker Kevin Aldridge was the only
returning player on the first-team defense.

Three teams each placed two players on the first team,
notably Waco Midway, which was ousted by Texas City in the
semifinals. Midway's honorees were quarterback Brandon
Johnson and his favorite target, receiver Kevin Brown.
Johnson also was voted offensive player of the year.

West-Orange Stark was represented by offensive lineman Rusty
Bernard and defensive lineman Charles Sias.

The eighth annual APSE team was chosen by sportswriters
around the state, based on players' regular-season
performance. Nominees were selected during the season and
balloting was conducted during the playoffs.

The other running backs were Tellis Redmon, who played at
second-year Colleyville Heritage this year after winning a
state title at Grapevine last year, and John Richardson, who
replaced last year's first-team running back Burnest Rhodes
at Terrell.

Rounding out the first-team offense were linemen Antwan
Kirk-Hughes of Waxahachie and Jonathan Pritchett of Clear
Brook and kicker Shane Armstrong of Friendswood.

Ricky Salinas of Edcouch-Elsa was the other defensive
lineman, Tyreo Harrison of Sulphur Springs was the other
linebacker and the other two defensive backs were Michael
Lewis of Lamar Consolidated and Tobin Swope of Highland
Park. Ed Johnson of Fort Worth Arlington Heights was the
punter.

UT's Conradt earns 700th career victory

AUSTIN, Dec. 19 (AP) -- Jody Conradt, who has won more games
than any other coach in women's basketball, joined Bob
Knight of Indiana as the only active college coaches with
700 victories when the Lady Longhorns beat Northwestern.

Conradt, with a record of 700-202, became the eighth coach -
men's or women's - to reach the 700-victory milestone when
Texas defeated the Wildcats 89-86 Thursday night.

``Relief was about the only emotion I could feel when that
buzzer went off,'' she said.

``When this game was going on, I thought it was the ugliest
game I'd ever seen in my life, but when it was all over, I
thought it was just about the most beautiful.''

Edwina Brown had 22 points and nine rebounds to lead the
Texas victory.

Conradt joined company with the likes of North Carolina's
Dean Smith and Kentucky's Adolph Rupp as well as Knight, who
at 706 victories is the leading active coach.

The nearest women's head coach Conradt is Pat Summitt of
Tennessee at 636.

Texas (3-4) took a 26-17 lead on a 3-pointer by Vanessa
Wallace with 9:03 left in the first half and led 42-31 at
halftime. Wallace scored 20 points.

The Longhorns started the second half with an 8-2 run that
made it 50-33 with 18:16 left, but Northwestern (4-7) used a
29-16 run over the next 10 minutes to make it 66-62.

The game remained close down the stretch. Northwestern had a
chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but Leslie Schock's
desperation 3-pointer missed.

Northwestern was led by Kristina Divjak with 28 points and
Megan Chawansky with 23.

Conradt said she felt the pressure of winning her 700th.

``I can't tell you the kind of pressure that I felt,'' she
said. ``I think the players could sense that too, but I
really admire the way they hung in there.''

Conradt has coached at Texas for 22 years, compiling a
583-137 record in Austin. She won a national championship
with an undefeated team in 1986.

Conradt was asked if she planned to stay around for more
milestones.

``I'll be here for 701,'' she cracked. ``I
can't commit much past that.''

Once the game was over, each of her players gave Conradt a
bear hug.

Meanwhile, the 6,260 fans, who included coach Van Chancellor
of the WNBA champion Houston Comets and Greg Williams of the
WNBA's Utah Stazz, received burnt-orange sugar cookies and
commemorative Conradt Hershey bars to celebrate the win.

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