PECOS ENTERPRISE

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SPORTS


Nov. 20, 1996

Lineup change fails to help Pecos' offense

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By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Nov. 20 -- The Pecos Eagles had almost an entirely different cast
on the court Tuesday night in their second game of the 1996-97 girls
basketball season. But they wound up suffering some of the same problems
they had in their season opener a week earlier.

The Eagles, who were shut out in the first period by Odessa Permian last
week, were blanked for the first 5½ minutes of Tuesday's home opener by
the Odessa High Bronchos. They survived that, and trailed by only five
late in the second period, before another scoreless streak allowed OHS
to go on a 14-0 run on the way to a 60-28 win at the Pecos High School
gym.

"We're not yet as aggressive as we need to be," Eagles coach Patty Hall
said. "Hopefully, by the time district comes around we'll be more
aggressive."

Junior Annette Marquez was the only Eagle to play in Tuesday's game who
also saw action in last week's opener at Permian. The Eagles' other
juniors missed that game after coming out late from volleyball, while
Pecos' seniors were benched this time by Hall for skipping workouts last
Friday.

"Hopefully the seniors learned something," Hall said. "It's their team.
It's up to them if they want to dedicate themselves to winning or not."

Other than some outside shooting by Shirhonda Bell in the second period,
none of the Eagles could find the mark consistently, while, Odessa High
controlled play inside.

Shelby Fitzgerald scored six of her game-high 17 points in the opening
period, and Keisha Gipson proved too quick for the Eagles' defenders in
the second half, giving OHS far more high-percentage shots.

"We weren't blocking out 22 (Gipson) and 55 (Fitzgerald). She got almost
all of her points on rebounds," Hall said. Against Gipson, she said her
defenders "would lose her on defense down there. Nobody knew who had her
and she would just post up and make her move."

The Eagles didn't score a basket until Ivy Thorp hit a short jumper with
53 seconds left in the opening period. They trailed 9-3 at the end of
the quarter, but cut the lead to 11-7 on a jumper by Bell and two foul
shots by Penny Armstrong.

It was still only 22-17 after a 3-pointer by Bell with a minute left in
the half when Lee Ann Bowen was fouled by Thorp and hit a pair of free
throws at the 14 second mark, then stole a pass meant for Erica Orona
and scored just before the buzzer to make it 26-17.

Bowen would add four more points in the Bronchos' 10-0 streak to open
the second half, which was finally ended when Marisol Arenivas hit from
the foul line with 2:11 to go. However, by the end of the period the
lead was up to 22, at 43-21, on a three-point play by freshman Chanie
Sutherland, and OHS added another 10 points to their margin in the final
period.

The Eagles' brightest spot was probably their foul shooting - Pecos was
7-for-9 from the line Tuesday, while Hall said "Our press was improved.
We did give them some problems bringing the ball down at times."

The loss leaves the Eagles with an 0-2 mark for the season, while Odessa
High's record improved to 2-1. The varsity is off for the next 10 days,
until they face Odessa's rival Midland High on Oct. 30, while the
freshman and junior varsity teams will compete in the Monahans Sandhills
Tournament this weekend.

Both those teams also fell to 0-2 on the year, as the JV lost by a 75-23
score and the freshman were beaten by Odessa's sophomores, 61-7.

ODESSA HIGH (60)
Sutherland 1 1-1 3; Espinoza 0 0-0 0; Givens 0 0-0 0; Garcia 5 0-2 11;
Gipson 6 3-5 15; Bowen 4 4-4 12; Perkins 1 0-0 2; Fitzgerald 8 1-2 17.
Totals 25 9-14 60.

PECOS (28)
Arenivas 2 0-0 5; A. Marquez 0 0-0 0; Armstrong 0 3-4 3; Orona 0 0-0 0;
L. Marquez 2 2-2 6; Bell 4 0-1 10; Thorp 1 2-2 4. Totals 9 7-9 28.

Odessa High 9 17 17 17 -60
Pecos 3 14 4 7 -28

Three-point goals: Odessa 1 (Garcia), Pecos 3 (Bell 2, Arenivas). Fouled
out: Pecos, Thorp. Total fouls: Odessa 11, Pecos 15.

Loboes' Shorter, Pittman lead 84-41 rout of Eagles

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PECOS, Nov. 20 -- The Sweetwater Mustangs are ranked as high as second
in the early season Class 4A high school basketball polls.

But the Monahans Loboes reminded the Pecos Eagles on Tuesday that things
wouldn't have been any easier in District 4-4A if the Loboes hadn't been
replaced by the Mustangs this season.

Monahans, which dropped down to Class 3A after finishing second in
District 4-4A last year, took it to Pecos from the outset, outscoring
the Eagles 22-10 in the opening period on the way to an 84-41 victory on
the Loboes' home court.

"It was a combination of us not playing very well and them playing
well," said Eagles' coach Mike Sadler. "I was very much disappointed we
didn't play better than that."

Shannon Shorter, who averaged 34 points in two games against the Eagles
last season, picked up where he left off Tuesday. The senior poured in
33 points, while senior Jason Pittman added 23 and Jeremy Ornelas had 14.

Sadler said Shorter got most of his points on drives to the basket. "We
played man defense and let him get by, and he just made lay-ups," the
Eagles' coach said.

Omar Hinojos was the lone Eagle in double figures, scoring 17 after a
21-point effort in Pecos' opening victory over Crane. "I think we missed
about 24 lay-ups," Sadler said, while also pointing to 6-for-15 foul
shooting as part of Pecos' offensive problems.

The Loboes raised their record to 2-0 with the win, while Pecos fell to
1-1 going into Friday's home game against Greenwood. Monahans also won
Tuesday's junior varsity game, though no score was available, while
Pecos' freshman opened their season with a 47-43 victory.

PECOS (41)
Flores 0 0-2 0; Montgomery 2 0-0 4; E. Abila 3 0-0 7; Carrasco 1 1-2 3;
Luna 0 0-0 0; Martinez 1 0-0 2; Celaya 0 0-0 0; Hinojos 6 5-10 17;
Garcia 1 0-0 2; Adame 2 0-0 4; Marquez 1 0-2 2; Navarrete 0 0-1 0.
Totals 17 6-15 41.

MONAHANS (84)
Thompson 0 2-2 2; Avery 2 0-0 4; Woods 1 0-0 2; Pittman 10 1-2 23;
Stockton 0 1-2 1; Wittle 1 1-2 3; Flores 0 2-2 2; Shorter 16 1-3 33;
Ornelas 6 1-2 14. Totals 36 9-15 84.

Pecos 10 11 8 12 -41
Monahans 22 21 25 16 -84

Three-point goals: Pecos 1 (E. Abila) Monahans 3 (Pittman 2, Ornelas).
Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Pecos 15, Monahans 19.

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State and Regional Sports Pages--San Angelo Standard-Times


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