Friday, Dec. 05, 2008

Big wins pile up for girls before break

By BRIAN HERNALSTEEN

News-Mirror Writer

Three of the Mansfield teams left Tuesday night with a win, and another dropped a game in what is one of the tougher starts to a season in recent memory.

Summit 53, Waco Midway 41: With the game very much in doubt throughout the night, the Jaguars used a run late in the third quarter, scoring eight points off of four turnovers in roughly a minute to take the lead that would last the rest of the contest.

From there, Summit took over and controlled the tempo of the game, scoring a big win against a tough Waco team, ranked fifth behind Timberview in the state polls.

"I guess the press really started to pick up in that one minute. We have really worked on it in practice, and it gave us open looks tonight," said Paisley Campbell, who had four points in that stretch. "We started getting intense. When we saw that we were down, we just picked up the pace and played tight defense."

Summit’s night started out tough, as Midway’s defense and rougher style of play subdued Summit’s own defense. But the Jags would have a 10-8 lead after a quarter.

Midway took a slight lead in the second quarter, but it was brief and Summit maintained its lead at the half, 22-18.

The second half was all about Jaguar defense, especially late in the third.

The run that gave the Jags the lead started when Amy Moody stepped to the line.

She got to the line after a big drive to the basket that resulted in a tough foul, something that may have sparked Summit’s defensive run.

The Jags intercepted the inbounds, and scored. The end of the run gave Summit a 37-28 lead, and a 37-32 lead at the end of the third.

"We had put in a 1-2-1-1 zone because we had a chance to scout them and saw that they had trouble, so we decided there was an opportunity there with a couple of their players out and we went for it. We had only worked on it in practice for a little while, but it paid off. It paid big dividends real fast," said Summit coach Tammy Lusinger. "As a coach, you sometimes take a shot, and that was an instance where it worked out."

And the tight defense stayed with the squad for the fourth quarter, as Summit held Midway to nine points in the final stanza.

"I think I was most impressed with our rebounding. And that improvement is coming from the first game of the season against Duncanville where we didn’t rebound and didn’t hustle for the board," Lusinger said. "It made a huge difference in our style of play."

Starr Crawford led all scorers with 18 points. Taylor Hooker had eight points and Moody finished the night with seven.

Colleyville 56, Mansfield 31: The Tigers got off to a slow start Tuesday night, and had trouble recovering. Trailing 30-13 at the half, the game was seemingly out of reach after two quarters of play.

Maya Adetula led the Tigers with 11 points and Ashley Domino grabbed five rebounds.

Timberview 60, Flower Mound 38: Timberview’s 36-15 second half proved to be the difference Tuesday night, as the Wolves improved to 10-1 for the year.

Leading 24-23 at the half, Timberview came out swinging in the third quarter and took control of the game.

Three players were in double figures scoring, as Maegan Conwright and Briana Nickerson both had 14 points and Chenale Smith had 13 points.

Legacy 65, Paschal 51: The Broncos (8-1) are off to an impressive start, earning their eighth win of the season Tuesday night by beating Paschal.

Legacy led 51-36 after three quarters of play, and closed out Paschal in the final quarter.

Three Broncos were in double digits. Kyaris Johnson led all scorers with 20 points, and Shaquanna Hargrow and Ashley Watson both had 11 points.