Friday, Nov. 28, 2008

Girls get scrappy

By BRIAN HERNALSTEEN

News-Mirror Writer

With a shortened week, three teams came out a winner in Monday and Tuesday’s games in girls basketball.

Legacy 63, Azle 35: What a difference a year makes.

The Broncos (7-1) looked good...real good Tuesday night against Azle (1-7). Legacy was hot out of the gate, taking a 15-5 lead after one quarter of play. It was defense, defense and more defense as Legacy caused turnovers and forced bad shots throughout the night.

"Right now, we are putting a lot of pressure on people and we want it to be fast and ugly. It gets teams frustrated and they will tend to turn it over," said Legacy coach Amy Tennison. "We have the athleticism and quickness, and in the early going, it has worked in our favor."

The Lady Hornets bounced back in the second quarter to make it 26-18 at the half, but a big second half was the difference.

Defense was the key, as Legacy scored its first eight points off four steals to set the tone in the third and fourth quarters and get the blowout victory Tuesday night.

"We like to get out there and get scrappy with our play," said Legacy’s Kyaris Johnson, who led all scorers with 19 points. "(Defense) is pretty much all we practice, and we have the mentality that if we don’t have good defense, we are going to lose."

The night and day difference between this team and last year’s was evident. The Broncos seemed to be having fun while playing

Terrica Franklin had 14 points and Ashley Watson had 10, most of which came on layups and easy jumpers off of turnovers.

"It is good. They are buying into the system, and that is something that is much easier to do when you have an actual offseason to work," Tennison said. "Last year, we struggled with that because we didn’t have a lot of success with anything we were doing. Getting that time with the kids really helps. They are sharing the basketball a lot, and I think it is fun to watch."

Timberview 56, Marcus 50: The Wolves improved to 9-1 on Monday night, narrowly defeating Marcus in Flower Mound.

The Wolves trailed 28-23 at the half, but big third and fourth quarters propelled to Timberview to the win.

Chancie Smith led the Wolves in scoring with 11 points, Briana Nickerson and Camille Redmon had nine points apiece and Maegan Conwright and Chenale Smith had eight points each.

Summit 64, McKinney Boyd 38: Summit (4-3) got all its pistons pumping in the first quarter Tuesday night, taking a 21-6 lead after the first eight minutes. It would give the Jags the boost they needed against Boyd (7-3) in the big win.

Taylor Hooker scored 17 points, Starr Crawford had 12 points Loren McDaniel had 11 points and Alisha Filmore had 10 points.

Granbury 60, Mansfield 52: Shelby Brandes and Maya Adetula both had 14 points for the Tigers on Tuesday night in Granbury, but a strong fourth quarter from the Lady Pirates would make the difference.

Trailing 39-38 heading into the final quarter, a 21-14 final stanza would be the difference.

Jamie White and Keisha LeBlane both had seven points.