Loss to Mustangs puts Lady Loboes at 7-11
    By Jon Fulbright, Staff Writer ~~ The Monahans News,  January 9l, 2007

Another scoring drought against the Midland Christian Mustangs proved costly for the Monahans Lady Loboes on Friday night, as they dropped a 48-34 decision to Midland Christians on the Mustangs' home court.

It was the second meeting of the season for the two teams.  Midland Christian had used a late 19-3 run last month to defeat Monahans by a 46-29 score in the finals of the Sandhills Tournaments.  This time, the Mustangs jumped ahead of the Loboes after one period by a 16-2 margin, and made that lead stand up over the final three quarters.

Both teams were minus key frontline players from their first meeting.  Monahans was missing senior post Catherine Cutbirth, who was competing at the Lubbock invitational swim meet on Friday and Saturday.  She had led Monahans with 10 points in their early meeting against Midland Christian, while the Mustangs were minus their second-leading scorer from that game, Candace Kohn, who missed the game due to a fractured hand.

Midland Christian still had their top scorer from the earlier game, Hope Hellums, in the line-up.  She followed up her four 3-pointers in that game by hitting three times from a 3-point range on Friday, as part of a game-high 15 points, while Allie Gerlach with 11 and Caitlin Michael with 10 also were in double figures for the Mustangs.

Monahans got a trio of 3-pointers from a Dina Ortiz, who finished with 10 points, while Jordan Latham had 13 to lead Monahans.

The loss put Monahans at 7-11 for the season, going into their Tuesday night game in Seminole against the Maidens.  Play will start at 4:30 pm with the varsity set for a 6 pm start in the high school gym, prior to the boys' varsity match up against the Indians.

By Chance Helmers, Junior '07