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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Friday, December 17, 2004
Eagles hosting Tornadoes after win
The Pecos Eagle girls’ basketball team picked the right time to double their win total for the 2004-05 season on Tuesday night. The Eagles, who managed just one win in pre-district plat, got victory No. 2 to open the District 3-3A portion of their schedule, as they went down to Fort Stockton and defeated the Prowlers by a 48-46 final score.
Pecos will now try and get a win against one of their newest district rivals, and against one of the 11 teams they lost to in pre-district play, the Lamesa Golden Tornadoes. The Eagles host the Golden Tornadoes on Friday night at 6 p.m. at the Pecos High School gym, and then close out the pre-Christmas portion of their 3-3A schedule on Monday night, with a 6 p.m. game at Presidio, the other team they’ve beaten so far this year.
The Eagles went out to a 29-13 halftime lead over the Prowlers on Tuesday, then had to survive Fort Stockton’s second half comeback, that got them to within a point of Pecos in the closing minute of the game.
“At the half we were up by 16, and then we came out and started running like we had a shot clock,” Eagles’ coach Lisa Lowery said. “I think the girls were shocked we had such a big lead and didn’t know how to react.”
Lowery said the Prowlers had problems shooting in the first half, but the Eagles also were able to get some easy baskets in the opening periods. “Fort Stockton tried to press us, but I think because we’ve seen so many we’re picking it up a lot better,” she said. “Fort Stockton was also cold, and we blocked out. We didn’t give them a chance to get a second shot.”
“We just did everything together as a team. Defensively, I don’t think their girls got off a shot without a hand in their face,” Lowery said.
She added that sophomore post Chantel Mazone “finally came out and played aggressive. That’s the best I’ve seen her rebound.”
Fort Stockton did come back in the second half, hitting three of their four shots from 3-point range in the final two periods. They cut the lead to 37-31 after three quarters and got to within 47-46 in the closing seconds.
“They fouled with about 12 seconds left and we made one of two (foul shots), then they still had four seconds to bust a 3 and beat us, but we put some pressure on them,” Lowery said.
Danielle Garcia led Pecos with 15 points before fouling out late, while Adriana Armendariz had 13 and Mazone finished with 12 for the Eagles. Ruby Bernal led Fort Stockton with 15 points, including 8-for-13 from the foul line, though overall, the Eagles had a five-point scoring advantage from the foul line on Tuesday.
Lamesa defeated Pecos two weeks ago on their home court in the seventh place game of the Benny Boyd Tournament, winning by a 65-53 final score. Armendariz had 23 points and Garcia finished with 18 in that game.
“I think we can play with Lamesa,” Lowery said. “We were missing a couple of girls taking the SAT that day, and Chantel also wasn’t there. If we play the way we did on Tuesday, we can beat them.”
The Eagles’ game against Presidio was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but was moved up a day. The teams played last week in the Stanton Hoopstown Classic, with Pecos scoring a 55-45 victory.
PECOS (48)
Carrasco 0 0-0 0; Garcia 4 6-9 15; Herrera 0 5-6 5; Mendoza 1 1-5 3; Armendariz 4 5-11 13; Mazone 6 0-0 12. Totals 15 17-31 48.
FORT STOCKTON (46)
Rey 0 0-0 0; Fuentes 2 1-2 6; Leyva 3 3-4 11; Bernal 3 8-13 15; Juarez 0 0-0 0; Hines 0 0-0 0; Carrillo 0 0-1 0; Blanco 3 0-0 6; Singh 2 0-2 4; Venegas 2 0-0 4. Totals 17 12-22 46.
Pecos 14 15 8 11 --48
Ft. Stockton 6 7 18 15 --46
Three-point goals: Pecos 1 (Garcia), Fort Stockton 4 (Leyva 2, Fuentes, Bernal). Fouled out: Pecos, Garcia. Fort Stockton, Leyva, Carrillo. Total fouls: Pecos 17, Fort Stockton 28.
Pecos to have more players, looking for fewer turnovers
Pecos Eagles’ coach Art Welborn will have a full squad Friday night, when they take on the Wink Wildcats in their final game before the start of District 3-3A play. At the same time, he’s hoping that the turnover column on the stat sheet will be less full than it’s been so far in the 2004-05 season, and especially at last weekend’s Monahans Sandhills Basketball Tournament.
After Pecos was routed by El Paso Riverside in their opening game on Thursday, they dropped their next game to district rival Lamesa by an 87-47 final score, dropping them to 2-9 on the season.
The game against Riverside was an 8 a.m. start, and Welborn said, “I had four players who didn’t show up on time, so they didn’t make the trip on Thursday, then they couldn’t start on Friday.”
Saul Pina led Pecos with 15 points in the loss to Lamesa, which Welborn said remained fairly close until the second half.
“We played fairly well against Lamesa early. We were only down 13 at halftime, but then they went on a run, and we had 27 turnovers,” he said. “That’s what’s killing us. When you’re averaging 34 turnovers and shooting just 33 percent, you’re not going to win a lot of basketball games.”
“We looked a little better in practice this week, and we’re getting to where we play good in spurts for half of a quarter, but then we look like a completely different team out there and don’t recognize what we have to do,” he added.
Welborn also said he was looking at moving Pina to the point guard position starting with Friday’s game against Wink, in an effort to try and cut down on the Eagles’ turnover problems.
Wink comes into the game with a 5-6 record, following a 53-40 loss at home to Kermit on Tuesday, in a game in which the Wildcats fell into an 18-point hole after one period. Following that game, Pecos will open District 3-3A play on Monday night with a trip to Presidio to take on the Blue Devils. Presidio also was in the Sandhills Tournament, defeating Big Spring, 64-57, and then losing to eventual tournament winner Lubbock Estacado, 53-40, before falling in the fifth place game to El Paso Riverside, 56-52.
Both Friday’s game against Wink and the game Monday at Presidio will begin following completion of the varsity girls’ basketball games, sometime around 7:30 p.m.
Bears hosting seven teams in hoops tourney
The Balmorhea Bears basketball teams will be hosting seven other schools on Friday and Saturday in their first-ever boys and girls tournaments, with games at both the new and old Balmorhea ISD gymnasiums.
The Bears were able to host their own tournament with the construction of the new gym this past summer. Games will begin on Friday morning with both Balmorhea teams in action, the boys in the old gym against the Buena Vista Longhorns, while the girls face Buena Vista in the new facility.
All four of the opening round match-ups are the same in the boys and girls division. The other games match Marathon against Sierra Blanca, Van Horn against Grandfalls and Presidio against Fort Davis. The girls will play in the new gym in the first two games, while the Blue Devils and Indian boys will play in the new gym to close out the first round of play.
The winner of the Balmorhea-Buena Vista games will face the winner between Marathon and Sierra Blanca at 4:30 p.m., the boys in the new gym and the girls in the old gym, while the losing teams will play in the consolation semifinals at 3 p.m.
Saturday’s games will open with the seventh place games at 10:30 a.m. The consolation finals will be held at 12 noon, followed by the third place games at 1:30 p.m. The girls championship game will be at 3 p.m. in the new gym, followed by the title game for the boys, at 4:30 p.m.
Seminole player on second team Class 3A squad
Senior lineman Steven Suarez of Seminole was chosen to the second team Class 3A All-State Football Team, while several players from Midland Greenwood received honorable mention in voting for the Associated Press’ squad, which was announced on Thursday.
No members of the Pecos Eagles, Monahans Loboes, Fort Stockton Panthers or Lamesa Golden Tornadoes were named to the Class 3A squad. Seminole, Greenwood and Fort Stockton tied for the District 3-3A championship this past season, but the Panthers were the only district team to finish overall with a winning record in 2004.
Receiving honorable mention by Greenwood were offensive lineman A.J., McCullough and running back Jarrel Brooks, while on defense, the Rangers’ Silas Etheridge earned honorable mention on the line, while Brooks earned the same honor at linebacker.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2003-04 by Pecos Enterprise
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