The San Saba Lady Dillos had a successful week of hoops as they captured a road win and won the Burnet Tournament. We defeated Johnson City on the road by a score of 72-18. We were a bit rusty looking as we had taken five “well deserved” days off for Thanksgiving. It was good to get out and run the floor and get some of the turkey and green rice out of our system.

We jumped on the Lady Eagles early and never looked back. Katy Davis had a big night netting 19 points while Haylee Oliver and Shelby Hardy tossed in 15 and 14 points respectively. Tarah Crosby also scored 8 points. Everyone played and a good time was had by all.

Thursday we opened up with the Lady Jaguars from Austin LBJ. We played in a “slugfest” and notched a big win for our program. We won 62-61 as we held on for dear life. LBJ recently finished second in the huge 32 team Temple Tournament where they lost to Arlington Bowie so defeating them was pretty special.

In all honesty, we were a bit tight and nervous to start the game but once we settled down we played Dillo Ball and went in at halftime down only two. LBJ pushed the lead up to nine midway through the third quarter but Nicole Sears hit a couple of big threes which got us right back in the game. I was really proud of the way we competed and scrapped for thirty-two minutes. The only downfall of the game was that we missed seven free throws in the fourth quarter.

Katy Davis played really well and kept us in the game early with her tenacity and aggressiveness of going to the basket. She lead all scorers with 22 followed by Shelby Hardy with 14. Calea Turner did a great job of running our team from the point guard position as she faced constant pressure all game long. In our second game of the day we defeated Round Rock Westwood by a score of 57-43. We were running on fumes and it took everyone for us to bring home the win. We were up seven at halftime, 27-20 but had a big third quarter which pushed the lead to 14. Davis once again had 22 followed by Shelby Hardy with 14 and Haylee Oliver with 13. Calea Turner and Tarah Crosby did a good job of alternating at the point position and running our team.

For the Championship we faced a Burnet team which we had beaten by eighteen in our tournament. I knew that things would be different especially with them catching us on their home floor. We ESCAPED with a 49-46 win. We didn’t play well but like an old coach once told me, a win is a win.

Burnet seemed to have a bit more quick in their step and we had way too many turnovers. We were up one at halftime, 19-18 and pushed the lead to seven at the end of the third. Burnet got hot and eventually tied up the game in the fourth quarter. We were down three on two different occassions late in the game but Katy Davis and Shelby Hardy both hit big threes to tie things up for us. Katy Davis eventually hit some free-throws and Calea Turner added another one as we held on for the victory.

Calea Turner really played well in the second half for us, she did exactly what a point guard needs to do as far as running our team and handling the ball. The three that Shelby hit was set up by great screens from Nicole Sears, Tarah Crosby, and Calea. It takes a total team effort to make things work and these four ran things to perfection to help make the play work. Katy Davis had 16 points followed by Haylee Oliver with 15. In this game, Calea had six steal, Haylee had 6 rebounds and 3 assists to lead in these areas. Katy Davis and Shelby Hardy were named to the All Tournament Team.

Our JV defeated Johnson City by a score of 41-17.

According to Coach Stowe everyone played well and it was a nice way to come back from the Holidays. Samantha Henry and Ashley Pulatie had big nights on the offensive end while Silvia Jimenez and Paige Chambers once again lead the defensive charge. The JV will be playing in the Llano tournament this Saturday. Their games are on Saturday only at 9 a.m. and 12 a.m.

Our Varsity will be playing in the Albany Tournament and there are changes due to Albany’s football team still being in the state playoffs. We will play Archer City first on Thursday at 10:50 a.m. If we win will play later that day at 4:30 p.m. against the Hico/Deleon winner. Both games will be in their NEW GYM. If we win both games on Thursday, we will play at 9:25 a.m. on Friday, if we win then we will play at 5:55 p.m. on Friday also, if we lose at 9:25 we will play at 3:05 p.m. on Friday. Once again, it is a two day tournament and NO games on SATURDAY.