Sandhills Invitational Meet Slated this Weekend
    Staff Writer, The Monahans News ~~ December 1, 2006

The Monahans Lady Loboes won't play as many games as scheduled this weekend at the Sandhills Invitational Tournament.  But they will face either a current or former district rival in their opening game, Friday afternoon at the Jerry Larned Sports Complex.

Monahans, which dropped a 61-56 game on Tuesday night at Denver City, had been scheduled to play a double-elimination tournament starting Thursday morning.  But Coach Treasure Thaggard was told by athletic director Mickey Owens that the way the tournament was set up, a team could be in violation of the UIL rule against playing more than two games in one day.

As a result, the tournament was changed to a standard single-elimination format, with a championship and consolation bracket following the opening round games.

Monahans varsity already will be in one of the tournament semifinal games against the winner of Thursday mornings Big Spring-Pecos game.  That game had been set for a 9 am start on Friday, but instead has been moved back to late Friday afternoon, due to a smaller number of games needed.

The other first round games on Thursday match Alpine against Midland Classical and Midland Christian against the Lobo junior Varsity team.  The winners of those games will advance to the semifinals, while the losers will face each other for the right to play the loser of the Pecos-Big Spring game for consolation on Saturday.  The third place and championships games also will be held Saturday afternoon at the Special Event Center.

In Tuesday's loss, Monahans came back from a 12-8 deficit after one period to grab a 26-25 halftime lead, and were up 44-42 after three quarters before Denver City came back to outscore the Loboes 19-10 in the final period.

"I thought we did a good job offensively.  Defensively there are just some skills we need to work on and make some corrections" Thaggard said.  "We went in at halftime with a one-point lead and played really well, especially in the second and third quarters.

"The girls are really stepping it up and playing well, but defensive we've got to do something to keep the other team from getting second chances one the boards" she said.

Jordan Latham led all scorers with 21 points, including 9-for-12 shooting from the line, while Catherine Cutbirth had 10 before fouling out.  "We had some fast breaks and some working off out offensive sets, and our free throws are falling real well this year," Thaggard said.

Monahans was 15-for19 from the line which helped them stay with Denver City, which hit just eight of their 25 foul shots.  The Mustangs were led by Natalie Franco's 18 points, while Randi Warren added 17, though the two were a combined 4-for-11 from the line.

Monahans junior varsity lost their game at Denver City, by a 36-28 score.  Ashton Hoyers' eight points led the Loboes.  Weather permitting, half of the JV was scheduled to go back to Denver City for tournament play this weekend, while Lisa Lowry and the rest of the team would stay home to play in the Sandhills Tournament.

Monahans (54)
Fuentes 1 2-2 4; Almanza 2 0-0 4; Ortega 1 0-0 2; Latham 6 9-12 21; Ct. Cutbirth 5 0-0 10; Ca. Cutbirth 0 0-0 0; Wilmon 1 0-1 2; Ortiz 2 4-4 9. Totals 18 15-19 54

Denver City (61)
Milligan 0 0-0 0; Warren 5 4-7 17; Franco 9 0-4 18; Hix 1 0-4 2; Espinoza 0 0-2 0; Tovar 3 1-2 7; Bentley 0 0-0 0; Fuqua 5 1-2 11; Thomas 2 0-0 4; Quezada 0 1-2 1; Herandez 0 1-2 1. Totals 25 8-25 61.

Monahans             8                           18                           18                         10                          --54
Denver City       12                           13                           17                         19                          --61

Three-point goals:  Monahans 1 (Ortiz), Denver City 3 (Warren 3).  Fouled out:  Monahans Ct. Cutbirth.  Totals fouls:  Monahans 20, Denver City 20.

Keyed by Lana S.