|
Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Pecos pushed around by Kermit in 50-34 loss
The best offensive quarter of the night for the Pecos Eagles on Friday was also the best quarter for the Kermit Yellowjackets, who turned a narrow lead into a double-digit advantage on the way to their first win and the Eagles’ second loss of the girls’ basketball season.
Pecos had cut an eight-point deficit to Kermit after one quarter in half by halftime, and trailed by a 17-13 margin in their low-scoring game. The Eagles then came out and more than doubled their point total in the third period, putting in 14 points. But the Jackets did even better, scoring 24 and going on to a 50-34 homecourt victory.
“They were just physical and we missed our chances,” said Eagles’ coach Lisa Lowery, “They kind of manhandled us under the basket. We just have to get more aggressive.”
The 0-2 Eagles had two chances, on Monday and Tuesday, to get their first win of the season before the Thanksgiving break, at home against Midland Trinity and Presidio. The Midland Trinity game will be a varsity-only match-up, starting at 6 p.m., while the Eagles will face the Blue Devils in non-district junior varsity and varsity contests, at 6 ad 7:30 p.m.
While Lowery said the Jackets controlled play inside, Kermit also hurt Pecos from the outside with the shooting of Tara Wilhelm. She had three 3-point jumpers, two in the third period, and ended up leading all scorers with 19 points.
“We played a little full court man (defense), but it cost us a couple of baskets, because we’re still learning it,” she said. “It wasn’t disastrous, but we’re still learning.”
Pecos was led by Danielle Garcia’s 10 points, but Lowery said she sat out the final quarter after picking up a technical foul in the third period. Garcia also had the Eagles’ lone 3-pointer on the night, while Amalie Herrera, with seven points, was the only other Pecos player with more than two field goals.
Lowery said the Eagles were without senior post Candace Regelman, while their remaining post players only managed six points. “Chantell (Mazone’s) not getting enough shots right now. She’s bringing the bal down too far,” Lowery said of her sophomore front line player.
Kermit, which is now 1-2 on the season, also won Friday’s junior varsity game by a 26-18 final score. Vanessa Valeriano led Pecos with five points. Following this week’s two home games, the Eagles will be off until Nov. 30, when they travel to Stanton.
PECOS (34)
Cr. Ortega 0 0-0 0; Carrasco 2 0-0 4; Garcia 3 3-4 10; Herrera 3 1-6 7; Rodriguez 0 1-2 1; Valdez 1 2-2 4; Cy. Ortega 0 0-0 0; Mendoza 1 0-0 2; Tarango 0 0-0 0; Armendariz 1 2-4 4; Mazone 1 0-1 2. Totals 12 9-19 34.
KERMIT (50)
Hise 2 0-2 4; Wilhelm 6 4-6 19; Jones 1 0-2 2; Lujan 0 0-0 0; Glader 2 1-1 5; Marshall 2 3-3 7; Quiroz 3 0-0 6; Steen 3 0-4 6. Totals 20 7-17 50.
Pecos 5 8 14 7 -- 34
Kermit` 13 4 24 9 -- 50
Three-point goals: Pecos 1 (Garcia), Kermit 3 (Wilhelm 3). Technical foul: Pecos, Garcia. Fouled out: Pecos, Mendoza. Kermit, Quiroz. Total fouls: Pecos 16, Kermit 17.
Chapin’s girls set up challenge for Eagles
The Pecos Eagles boys swim team already knew that repeating as Region I-4A champions this winter wasn’t going to be easy. On Saturday in Monahans, Pecos’ girls found out the same thing will apply to them when they go to regionals in February.
The boys, who graduated five seniors off last year’s team that placed fourth at state, have been battling to stay in front of Monahans, Big Spring and Fort Stockton through the first six weeks of the 2004-05 season, while the girls until now have had few problems staying ahead of their district rivals and the other Class 4A schools in the region.
But at the Monahans Invitational the Eagles finished almost 100 points behind El Paso Chapin, which won the girls division by a 280-261 margin over San Angelo Center. The Eagles, who were short a few swimmers this weekend, finished fourth, with 184 points, while Hobbs took third with 204 points.
The boys were also two swimmers short on Saturday, but with fewer swimmers to work with, coach Terri Morse scratched one of her relays and the Eagles ended up eighth, with 166 points. Central won the division with 365 points to 186 for Chapin, while Monahans, Big Spring and Andrews also placed ahead of Pecos.
Pecos boys have won four straight regional titles, while the girls have won the last three Region I-4A championships. And since only the top finishers in each event at regionals are assured a trip to state, Saturday’s results present a challenge for Pecos’ girls if they’re to go back to Austin in February.
“Chapin looked pretty good. They’re definitely going to be a contender at regionals,” Morse said. “It seemed as though they had a lot of depth. I haven’t had a chance to see if they had a lot of new freshmen or transfers, but they’re definitely going to be a factor.”
Chapin did have senior Lara Jackson, the defending state champion in the 50-yard freestyle, returning, but also picked up individual wins from Amanda Nevarez, Mary Tooke and Ali Walker. Nevarez won the 200 freestyle, with Pecos’ Susan Moore placing third, two seconds behind, also edged Moore by .79 second in the 100-yard freestyle. Tooke beat Catherine Minjarez by 1 1/2 seconds to win the 100-yard butterfly, and Walker won the 500 free by nine seconds over the Eagles’ Teddie Salcido.
Tooke and Walker also finished first and second in the 100-yard backstroke, where Salcido placed fifth and Minjarez sixth.
The Eagles’ Lindsey Shaw placed second to Hobbs’ Kammon Betzen in the 200 individual medley for the other second place finish for Pecos at the meet, Shaw also was fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke, where Jackson edged Betzen for first place.
Morse said she had her swimmers wearing extra weights during the week leading up to the Monahans meet, “so I expected them to be a little slower, but we mostly stayed the same, give or take a little. The ones that went did OK, but we weren’t able to challenge as far as the relays go, because when you’re missing people they hurts the whole team.”
In the relay events, Chapin’s four swimmers won the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays, while the Eagles’ team of Minjarez, Salcido, Moore and Amie Reynolds placed second in the 400, with a 4:11.57 time to Chapin’s 3:56.55. In the 200 free, Salcido, Shaw, Moore and Amie Reynolds were fourth, seven seconds behind Chapin. San Angelo Central and Hobbs were second and third, while in the 200 freestyle relay Pecos’ team of Reynolds, Shaw, Minjarez and Ashley Mendoza fourth, while Hobbs took first, with Central second and Chapin third.
Ashley Mendoza finished fifth in the 500-yard freestyle and eighth in the 200-yard free, while Reynolds was eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke for the Eagles’ other points.
The boys were without junior Matt Elliott, which led Morse to skip the 200 medley relay. But the Eagles still got a trio of first place finishes on the afternoon from sophomores Matt Ogelsby and Kyle Winkles.
Winkles edged Hobbs’ Michael Nelson by half a second to win the 100-yard freestyle and then won the 100-yard backstroke with a 59.13 time, eighth-tenths of a second ahead of Monahans’ Zac Vaughn. Oglesby edged another Class 4A swimmer, El Paso Andress’ Tim Burns, by just under one second to win the 200 individual medley with a 2:12.22 time, and later was second by .8 second to San Angelo Central’s Philip Wilkerson in the 100-yard butterfly.
The two swimmers, along with Matthew Florez and Alonzo Garcia, were fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, beating all the other Class 4A teams entered, while the same four placed sixth in the 400 freestyle relay, won by San Angelo, with Chapin, Andress and Monahans also placing in front of the Eagles.
Florez was eighth in the 100 free and 12th in the 200 free, while Garcia was 7th in the 500 free and 11th in the 100 breaststroke for the Eagles’ other points.
Pecos has this week off for Thanksgiving and also will be idle the first weekend of December before competing in the Seminole Invitational, their lone meet until going to Lubbock the second weekend of January.
“We’re going to do some mighty hard training between now and then,” Morse said of the break between now at the Seminole meet. “We’re going to have to do that to get ready for the break for Christmas, so we don’t lose everything we’ve trained for.”
Eagles struggle on offense in opening hoop loss
Offense was in short supply for the Pecos Eagles in their 2004-05 basketball opener Friday night against the Kermit Yellowjackets.
Kermit's Landon Forga had more field goals by himself than the Eagles did as a team, scoring nine from 2-point range and one 3-pointer on the night, while Pecos managed just nine field goals overall, and none during an 8 1/2 minute stretch of the first half. Combined with problem in the second half shooting from the foul line, and it left the Eagles on the short end of a 71-31 final score.
“We just haven't adjusted to the offense we're trying to put in. We're not executing our plays right now,” said new Eagles' head coach Art Welborn. “We're not getting any movement, and when that happens some of our guys are trying to do it on their own.”
Welborn said the Eagles failed to show patience in running their offense, something the Jackets were able to do most of the night. They were able to work the ball around in the early going until they found an opening for Forga, who scored Kermit's first nine points and had 24 overall in the game.
He hit a lay-up and sank a 3-pointer to start things off, but Saul Pina came right back after that and hit his own 3-point jumper to cut the lead to 5-3. That was with 5:20 left in the first period, and the Eagles wouldn't get their next basket until Lucas Macha hit a reverse lay-up with 4:53 left in the half. In between, Pecos did add a few foul shots, but by the time Macha hit his shot the Eagles were down by a 26-6 score.
“I told them at halftime, we hadn't had an offensive series where there were more than two passes,” the Eagles' coach said. “We couldn't get enough passed on offense where we could get the motion we needed.”
“Some of our kids didn't play last year, and it's different playing 3-on-3 with your buddies than it is when you have to go out and play as a team,” Welborn added.
Pecos did open the game 4-for-5 from the line, but after two foul shots by Macha even the free throw percentage fell apart. The Eagles trailed by 25 points at halftime, 39-14, and Kermit added five more points to their lead in the third period and 10 more in the final quarter, thanks to 2-for-14 free throw shooting by Pecos.
“We missed 16 free throws and had 31 turnovers,” Welborn said. “I thought we played good on defense. Coach (Michael) Valencia made some good adjustments at halftime, but it's a lot easier (for Kermit) to shoot when you're 25 points up. You're a lot more relaxed then.”
Ricardo Morales was one of several Eagles in foul trouble, but was able to get inside for a couple of lay-ups in the third quarter, and ended up leading the Eagles in scoring with nine points. Pecos had another home game on Monday night, against the Midland Trinity Mustangs, and closed out their pre-Thanksgiving schedule on Tuesday with a trip to Lovington to face the Wildcats, who routed Pecos a year ago in the Eagles' home opener.
Kermit also won Friday's junior varsity season opener, 48-22. Jeremy Rodriguez led the Eagles with five points.
KERMIT (71)
Tyler Williams 1 0-0 2; Lance Hill 2 0-0 5; Casey Forga 2 5-6 9; Cedrick Thompson 4 2-3 10; Tim Michaelis 2 1-2 3; Brock Kimball 0 2-3 2; Victor Pallanes 1 2-3 4; Landon Forga 10 3-4 24; Andrew Bond 0 2-4 2; Angel Lujan 3 1-1 7. Totals 25 18-26 71.
PECOS (31)
Tito Gonzales 0 1-2 1; Jeremiah Jurado 0 1-4 1; Ricardo Morales 3 3-4 9; Saul Pina 2 0-0 5; Nathan Guajanda 2 0-1 4; Luis Licon 2 0-0 5; Josh Anchondo 0 2-4 2; Simon Castillo 0 0-2 0; Chad Evans 0 0-2 0; Luis Nunez 0 1-4 1; Felix Salcido 0 0-1 0; Lucas Macha 1 3-4 5. Totals 9 9-28 31.
Kermit 17 22 14 18 --71
Pecos 4 10 9 8 --31
Three-point goals: Kermit 3 (Hill, Pallanes, L. Forga), Pecos 2 (Pina, Licon). Technical foul: Pecos, Evans. Fouled out: Kermit, Thompson. Pecos, Evans, Salcido. Total fouls: Kermit 23, Pecos 27.
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
|
