|
Navarro teams, Marion girls in finals
Published November 30, 2007
GERONIMO — Thursday was a good day for Navarro basketball fans.
Both the Navarro boys and girls basketball teams — who each had just one win prior to Thursday — both recorded a pair of victories to advance to the championship games in their respective brackets at the Navarro Tournament at Navarro High School.
The Panthers (3-2) beat Natalia (68-40) and Pearsall (86-54), respectively, to move into Saturday’s boys championship, while the Lady Panthers (3-6) ran past Natalia (57-39) and Pearsall (58-37) in respective contests to move on to the girls title game. The girls championship contest starts at 6 p.m., while the boys tip off at 7:30.
“It’s really exciting to get back [into the tournament championship game],” said Navarro girls coach Darrell Harborth. “We did a great job of passing and executing all day.”
In the semifinal game against Pearsall, Navarro fell behind, 13-9, behind 13 points from Ashley Carillo. But the Lady Panthers went on a 12-0 run to seize a 21-13 lead that would not be relinquished.
During that spurt, Haley Helweg scored 6 points, while Leah Ripke scored 4.
Navarro wore Pearsall down in the second half as Carillo, who had 16 points in the first half, scored 9 in the final two quarters.
Helweg finished the game with 18 points, eight rebounds and five steals — all team-highs. Brittany Parker also scored 14 points in the contest.
In the morning game against Natalia, the Lady Panthers received 15 points and nine rebounds from Parker and 10 points, five rebounds and three steals from Sydawnie Douglass.
The Navarro boys ran all day, and the opponents ran out of gas in the second half. The Panthers, using an up-tempo, fullcourt style of play, forced multiple turnovers and scored almost at will in their two contests.
Navarro averaged 77 points in the two games.
“I hope we keep running,” said Navarro boys coach Bob Ermel. “If we keep running, we’ll be fine.”
Pearsall took a brief 4-1 lead early in the contest, but that advantage was soon forgotten as the Panthers used a 31-5 run to take a convincing 32-9 lead behind 16 points from Zach Hernandez. Most of Hernandez’s points came off of fastbreak opportunities.
Pearsall pulled within 12 early in the second half, but could get no closer.
Hernandez led all scorers with 28 points, while A.K. Williams had 14 points, 11 rebounds and eight steals.
In the morning win over Natalia, Hernandez once again exceeded 20 points with a 24-point outing, and Wesley Ply recorded a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Marion girls
MARION — After a slow start on Thursday, the Marion girls basketball team got defensive in the tune of an 18-2 third-quarter run.
The spurt gave the Bulldogs a 31-18 lead entering the fourth quarter, and they closed out Devine in style, 48-29, in the semifinals of the Marion Tournament at Marion High School.
Marion (6-2) will face Lytle at 6 p.m. Saturday in the championship game.
Marion trailed Devine, 16-13, at halftime before starting the climb back. The Bulldogs were led by Mackenzie Langemeier, who had 18 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Langemeier also stepped up big for Marion in the first round contest — a 41-36 victory over Nixon-Smiley. The senior guard scored her team’s last eight points, including four consecutive free throws in the final seconds. She led Marion with 15 points, eight rebounds and five steals.
“It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win,” said Marion coach Kollyn McWhinney. “We’ll take it.”
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print |
Comment
|
