“Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” –Michael Jordan
This weekend the 8th Grade Lady Pirates began the new decade competing in the La Vernia JH tourney. We ended up in the tougher pool taking on both Poth and Medina Valley. If we won both of those games, we would play for the championship game against the winner of pool A.
We began the day against the tough Pirates from Poth. We played well and Katara Whitfield and Eternity Diaz led in scoring in the first quarter with 4 points and 6 points respectively. We never really separated from Poth with the ladies from Poth scoring the highest point total we had allowed all season. Jessica Mata played an excellent third quarter by scoring 7 and giving us a 30 to 11 lead. Poth kept battling and scored 13 in the 4th to cut our lead to 12 but Coach Bohl put in new rotations and had some of our better players sit in the quarter because 3 games is tough for the ladies. Final score Lytle 36, Poth 24. Leading scorers: Jessica 9, Eternity 8, Katara 6, Calyssa Sevier 5, Amelia Martinez 4, Cheyenne Martinez and Andrea Aguilar 2 points.
The second game of the day brought us up against the orange and black Panthers from the Village in Castroville. Coach Bohl and I saw them play Thursday, but they were not the same team. Lytle seemed to bring out a fire in the Panthers and they played with intensity. We had Katara pick up some early fouls and at the end of the first quarter we had an 8 to 5 lead. Calyssa Sevier took over from that point. She anchored our press and scored 9 points of our 15 in the second quarter and we had a 23 to 13 lead. Medina Valley encountered and injury in the third quarter to their ball handling guard and that hurt their offensive flow. We ended the day with a 44 to 30 victory. We were led by Calyssa’s 17 points followed by Eternity 10 pts, Amelia 4 points, Jessica 8 points, Katara 4 points, and Tori Perez added a free throw. This victory put us in the Championship game to defend the title they won in 7th Grade.
The Championship opponent was determined when Falls City defeated Jourdanton. I was happy that we would not have to play Jourdanton since we would see them Thursday. Our pool provided a tougher test than Falls City encountered. We played well for the Championship game. We shut out the Beaverettes in the 3rd quarter to take a 44 to 7 lead. Calyssa played her best game of her 8th Grade year scoring 26 points. She hit 9 two-point shots and 2-3 pointers. Jessica scored 10 points, Eternity and Amelia had 5 apiece and Katara added 2 points. One highlight was when Jessica Mata was intentionally fouled, and she sank both her free throws. When the horn sounded it was the Champion team from Lytle with 48 points and the team from Falls City with 16 points. Two ladies who went but did not score were Brianna Padares and Fatima Montes. The ladies defended their La Vernia Title and begin the second half of their Season Thursday at home vs Jourdanton.
“Inspire and motivate your players with praise. Ten years from now, it won’t matter what your record was. Will your kids love you or hate you? – Jim Harrick
Have a great beginning to the decade.