The Sundown Roughettes hosted the Smyer Lady Cats for a district basketball battle this past Wednesday night, resulting in the Roughettes winning 51-31.
The Roughettes came out strong, taking a 29-8 lead into halftime, and while the Lady Cats would outscore them in the second half, they held on for the win.
"Fantastic first half. Now we’re understanding when to play fast, when to slow it down,” Roughettes Head Basketball Coach Jared Neighbors said. "I thought our defense was excellent. Smyer came out in the third quarter and gave us a little scare, but the girls settled the ship. Our pregame verse was Proverbs 1:32 about complacency. You know, with that big win against Ropes we don’t want to get complacent, we want to keep playing hard.”
The Roughettes took that lesson and applied it, as all eight girls got on the scoreboard and every score that Smyer had was hard earned, in route to the win.
Standouts for the Roughettes included Kyndal Taggart with 15 points behind 50% shooting and 5/6 free throws made, adding 12 rebounds, two steals and two blocks, Kathryn Flores with nine points behind 50% shooting and 3/5 free throws made, adding three assists, three rebounds and a steal, and Camry Jourden with nine points on 50% shooting, two assists and a rebound.
Kelbie Powell and Avyian McGlasson both had nice nights as well, as Powell recorded six points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks, and McGlasson recorded three points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.
The win improves the Roughettes to 20-11 overall and 7-2 in district play, which puts them tied for second in the 2A District 5 standings.
Coach Neighbors noted in his postgame interview that the Roughettes and Ropes Lady Eagles are battling to get the 2A big school top district playoff seed.
The Roughettes have won three straight games and are playing impressive basketball, which Coach Neighbors wants his team to continually improve upon in pursuit of that top playoff seed.
On the Lady Cats side of things, the loss drops them to 18-8 overall and 4-4 in district play, which puts them fourth in the 2A District 5 standings.
The Lady Cats won the third quarter, 12-8, and the second half, 23-22, behind awesome defense, but it was too little, too late.
“We came out sluggish. The second quarter, we just really struggled to score. Give Sundown credit; they are a heck of a team,” Lady Cats Head Basketball Coach Todd Nichols said. "We talked at halftime, having some urgency to come out and make plays ourselves, and create something out of nothing. I thought the girls really did that. We won the second half, so just don’t dig ourselves into such a big hole. Then maybe it’s a completely different game here.”
Coach Nichols would go on to praise his girls for their effort and mid-game adaptations against a great team, in an off-schedule game due to the snow.
Scorers for the Lady Cats included Ellie Nelson with 11 points behind three threepointers made, Jada Hernandez with nine points, Kaia Brandon with four points, and Rylee Riedel, Kira Posadas and Kenzie Zapata all with two points.
The loss wasn’t ideal for the Lady Cats in their playoff push, but they still have the upper hand over the Morton Maidens for the fourth and final district playoff spot.
Following the game, both teams are back in action over the weekend. The Lady Cats host Morton in a huge matchup in regard to the playoffs, while the Roughettes play at Plains.