Lady Loboes defeat Crane, lose to Kermit 53-51
    by John Fulbright, Staff Writer ~~ The Monahans News, November 28, 2006

The Monahans Lady Loboes basketball team got a big win on the road and suffered a narrow loss at home in the days before the Thanksgiving break, and resume play on Tuesday with a trip to Denver City.

The Loboes will take on the Mustangs in junior varsity and varsity games at 5:30 and 6 p.m.  It's the first of two trips there this week for the JV, while the freshman will miss Tuesday's trip and travel there this weekend as the varsity stays home to host the annual Sandhills Basketball Tournament.

The Loboes started off last week with a 43-23 win at Crane, and then came home the following night and lost to Kermit by a 53-51 final score.

The Loboes trailed by 12 at the half and were down by nine with 38 seconds to play, but were able to cut into the Yellowjackets' lead in the third quarter, and then hit a trio of outside shots in the closing seconds, before running out of time.

"Right at the end we just couldn't catch up," said Loboes coach Treasure Thaggard, who was minus post player Bethany Willmon for Tuesday's game.

"I think Kermit could handle the ball better.  They just did a better job breaking the press, and we didn't have Bethany, so we were the smaller team."

Kermit post Diana Quiroz took advantage of Willmon's absence to lead all scorers with 18 points, and had a chance for more, but was just 6-for-15 from the foul line.  The Jackets ended up taking 26 shots from the line compared to just nine for the Loboes.

Jordan Latham led Monahans with 17 points before fouling out, and Dina Ortiz added 12, including two in the final minute after a three-point play by Quiroz left the Loboes trailing by a 53-44 score.

"I thought our girls really played together as a team," Thaggard said.  "They understand my system so much better, with this being my second year.  I believe by the time district gets here they'll be ready."

In last Monday's win at Crane, Ortiz had 13 points, Latham 12 and Catherine Cutbirth had 10, as Monahans jumped out to a 25-10 lead by halftime and outscored the Cranes in all four quarters.

"I thought we played a good game last night, and I thought we played just as good a game tonight, even though we didn't come out on top," Thaggard said.

Crane did win Monday's junior varsity game, 30-24, while Kermit won the JV match on Tuesday, 43-38.  Kassie George, Liselda Walker and Callie Lewis each had six to lead the Loboes on Monday, while Kristi Holly's 14 topped Monahans in scoring on Tuesday.

After Tuesday's trip to Denver City, Monahans will have two teams entered in their eight team tournament this weekend.  The Loboes' white team will have a first bye and will play at 9 a.m. on Friday against the winner of Thursday's game between Pecos and Big Spring, while Monahans' green team has their first game at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday against Midland Christian.

The tournament is double elimination.  The loser of the Monahans- Midland Christian game will play again at 5 p.m. against the loser of the Alpine- Midland Classical game, while the winners will meet at 10:30 a.m. on Friday in a quarterfinal contest.