The Lady Dillos played only one game last week and it was probably good timing as we’ve had some injuries and sickness to battle.

Last Tuesday we made a LONG voyage to Merkel to return a game from the previous year. This will most likely be the last matchup with these guys for a while. It’s a long, long way over there. We battled the Lady Badgers tooth and nail and came up on the short end of the stick losing in overtime 48-41. It was definitely a game of swings. We had a three point lead with a little over a minute left, lost the lead, gained it back and lead by two with twelve seconds but surrendered that advantage as well. We fouled the Chaney kid with about five seconds left and to her credit she nailed both freethrows to send the game into an extra frame.

I’m not into moral victories and neither are our Lady Dillos but we were playing shorthanded from the get go. Danessa Vasquez was out with a broken toe and Johna Reavis was battling a stomach bug and hardly played at all. Johna tried to go but I could tell she didn’t feel well so we played her off and on throughout the game. Despite not having these two starters for most of the night our bench gave some good minutes and we played with a great deal of heart and effort. We just were a bit slow on some closeouts and to the Lady Badgers’ credit, they hit some big shots down the stretch. We were up five at halftime, down five at the end of the third, but we regrouped and played a back and forth game the whole fourth quarter. Haylee Oliver lead us in scoring with 22 and she also captured 13 rebounds for the night. Tarah Crosby chipped in 10 points as well and her and Haylee both lead us in steals with 3 each. Jaena Edwards also captured 5 boards for us. Ashley Pulatie, Joannah Crosby, Alexa Maxcey, and Karlee Cromer stepped us as far as our bench contributors and got some great experience as far as atmosphere and pressure. Hopefully, this type of game will help these guys come district time.

A big win for the drive home would’ve been nice but I can’t fault our effort and heart. We’ve lost two close games this year, we need to just shore up the little parts of the game to get these types of wins.When the article comes out we will have played our friendly rival from the North- the Goldthwaite lady eagles. Goldthwaite is off to a great start capturing some big wins early in the year and will come to Armadillo Arena with the distinction of being the #1 ranked team in Class A in the State of Texas. Hopefully, it will be a barn burner part 2 from the last time we played them.

This Thurs-Sat we’re in the Mason Tourney. On Thursday we will play Brady at 4:00, Sonora on Friday at 4:00 , and then on Saturday we will play two games-Junction at 10:30 and Ozona at 3:00.District is right around the corner with a HUGE game next Tuesday here in San Saba versus the Hico Lady Tigers. Hico is one of the top teams in our District and will be a tough opponent to start off the District race. Come out and support the Lady Dillos and help us reach our goal of a District Championship.

My SHOUT OUT for the week goes to Danny "Mr. Hollands’ Opus" Ingram. Now, I’m going to be a bit biased because my daughter was in the Christmas Carol but if you missed either performance last Fri and Sat, then you missed out. The entire play was outstanding with many great performances throughout. Mr. Ingram, please take a bow, you are to be commended. The only complaint I had was no CONCESSION STAND- was needing some nachos, sour patch candy and a large diet coke about midway through the play. Ya’ll have a good one, ya hear.

Phil 4:13