The Whiteface Lady Lopes hosted the Morton Maidens this past Tuesday, kicking off district basketball play for both teams, with the Lady Lopes coming out on top, 66-18.
The win improves the Lady Lopes to 15-2 overall and 1-0 in district, while the loss drops the Maidens to 8-11 overall and 0-1 in district.
The win marks the Lady Lopes’ 11th in a row, and following the game, Lady Lopes Head Coach Jason Blankenship gave his thoughts on what his girls did so well to secure the win.
“Our pressure led to transition. We’ve got some good athletes that like to get out and run the floor, so that gave us an early advantage,” Coach Blankenship said. “Then some pretty good outside shooting tonight from our guard core. Then on defense, our girls play aggressive, intuitive defense. They anticipate well and that led to lots of runout layup type opportunities.”
The girls that embodied that offensive success the most were the guard duo of Kambry Sanders and Emily Blankenship, both of whom scored in double-figures. Sanders led the team with 25 points behind five threepointers made, going a perfect 4/4 from the free throw line. Blankenship scored 19 points off the back of two three-pointers, while shooting a perfect 3/3 from the free throw line.
Other Lady Lopes scorers included forward Gracyn Kauffman with nine points, post Maci Waggoner and post Keyarah Castaneda both with four points, and Lainey Sanders and Rhaelyn Bracey both with two points.
And while it didn’t show on the scoreboard, the Maidens deserve credit for their performance in the game as well. They played hard defense and forced tough shots often, but they struggled with turnovers which stunted their success on both ends of the court.
Scorers for the Maidens included Haylee Toscano with eight points, Blaize Garza with five points, Addy Sabala and Khloe Aguirre both with two points, and Maya Huckabee with one point.
Following the district matchup, both teams have one more game over the weekend before entering into Christmas break.
After the break, the Lady Lopes will be back in action on Dec. 29-31 at the Brownwood Holiday Tournament, while the Maidens will resume in the New Year on Jan. 2 at 2:15 p.m. on the road versus district foe Ropes.