Comeback comes up short for Ladycats on the road

SAGINAW – Much like Clark Griswold, the Ladycats may be asking where the Tylenol is on their Christmas vacation following a highly contentious and physical matchup on the road against the Saginaw Lady Rough Riders on Tuesday. Saginaw held off the fourth-quarter rally by the visiting squad from Aledo just long enough to pick up a 63-57 win.

With the loss, Aledo moves to 1-2 in 5A Region I District 5 play, and 10-10 on the season.

“We didn’t do a lot of the little things, and it caught up to us,” Aledo head coach Nikki Hyles said after the game. “We’ve got to be able to handle pressure a little bit better and be able to finish around the basket. Honestly, we’re still the better team. We just didn’t play well today.”

Trailing by nine heading into the fourth quarter, the Ladycats outpaced Saginaw 20-17 offensively in the final frame. Aledo was able to saw Saginaw’s lead down to just four points several times in the waning moments of action.

Presley Hull is tripped up at the low post against Saginaw.

With little more than three minutes left in the contest senior Presley Hull knocked down a jumper to bring her team within four of the Lady Rough Riders. Claire Byars duplicated the feat at the 2:51 mark as she played a layup off the glass to cut Saginaw’s lead at 52-48. Kenzie Grau laced a late three-pointer with two ticks left on the clock to cut the score to 61-57 in favor of the home team.

Unfortunately, that is as close as Aledo would get as the game came to a close. The Ladycats committed the desperation foul on the ensuing inbounds pass to send Jasmine Wilcox to the charity stripe shooting two with just three-tenths of a second left on the clock and her team in the double bonus. Wilcox sank both free throws to produce the final score while capping off a 15-of-28 performance from the line for the Lady Rough Riders on the night.

The two teams juggled the lead back-and-forth several times in the first quarter of action. Aledo landed on the board first before the Lady Rough Riders gained an early advantage. Midway through the first the Ladycats came roaring back when Byars sank a layup just over three minutes into the contest giving her team a 10-9 lead.

Saginaw answered back with a quick bucket of their own to regain the lead at 11-10. With 3:06 left in the opening stanza Grau drilled a shot of her own from behind the arc to put Aledo up by a pair, 13-11.

Kandle Boggus is fouled in the lane at Saginaw on Tuesday.

Lady Rough Rider forward Tatum Stone cinched the game at 13-all after knocking down a pair of free throws. With just over a minute left in the first quarter of action Stone dialed up the long-range jumper from just inside the arc securing the final lead change of the contest at 15-13.

Down by a lone point heading into the second frame, the Ladycat offense struggled in the second quarter, giving Saginaw an opportunity to put distance between the two teams on the scoreboard. Aledo entered the intermission trailing by eight, 34-26.

The third quarter was close yet again with the Ladycats tacking on 11 points across the span of eight minutes of play. Not to be outdone, Saginaw tacked on a dozen points of their own to enter the final quarter of action up by nine, 46-37.

“Our district is pretty solid across the board,” Hyles added. “Any team can beat any other team on a given day. We just didn’t bring our ‘A’ game today.”

Looking ahead, the Ladycats will take a few days off to enjoy the holidays before getting back to the grind next week. Aledo will play four games in two days (Thursday and Friday) as they participate in the Fredericksburg Tournament.

Ladycats vs. Saginaw

Varsity

Kenzie Grau 16, Claire Byars 14, Presley Hull 10, Kandle Boggus 7, Caroline Browning 5, Kinley Elms 3, Reagan Davis 2.

Junior Varsity

Elizabeth Griffin 23, Savannah Salas 8, Kinley Evans 7, August Carlone 6, Breleigh Mayer 6, Brenna Clock 5, Maddox Lucas 5, Peyton Flores 2.

Ladycats vs. Northwest

Varsity

Presley Hull 17, Kenzie Grau 11, Claire Byars 9, Kandle Boggus 5, Reagan Davis 5.

Junior Varsity

Elizabeth Griffin 21, August Carlone 7, Breleigh Mayer 7, Brenna Clock 4, Rebekah Jarrell 2.

Freshmen

Jordyn Edington 9, Mesoma Emekaokey 7, Jenna Haussler 6, Lily Heckathorn 5, Alyssa Todd 5, Jaylee Owens 2, Mackenzie Bullard 1.

Ladycats vs. Wichita Falls Rider

Varsity

Kenzie Grau 11, Caroline Browning 11, Claire Byars 11, Reagan Davis 8, Natalie Anderson 7, Presley Hull 6, Kinley Elms 4, Ella Isbell 2, Taylor Paetzold 2.

Junior Varsity

Elizabeth Griffin 27, Brenna Clock 10, Savannah Salas 6, Breleigh Mayer 5, Peyton Flores 4, August Carlone 2, Rebekah Jarrell 2, Kinley Evans 2.

Freshmen

Alyssa Todd 12, Jaylee Owens 7, Kayna Atchinson 2, Lily Heckathorn 2, Jordyn Edington 2, Natalie Brown 2, Mesoma Emekaokey 2, Tori Culler 1, Jenna Haussler 1.