The Whiteface Lady Lopes took on the Nazareth Swiftettes this past Friday at the South Plains College Dome for their regional semi-finals matchup where Whiteface lost 23-20.
The first quarter of the game started off rough for the Lady Lopes as they would not be able to get their offense going early on as they had zero points in the first. At one point Nazareth had the 4-0 lead in the first as Whiteface had to call a timeout to slow the momentum that the Swiftettes were building up. The score at the end of the first quarter had Whiteface trailing 60.
For the second quarter of the game Whiteface let up another three points in a very defensive battle while they were finally able to get their first points of the game with a basket from Tymmyah Olenga from underneath. The Lady Lopes had to call a timeout with 5:28 left in the half as they trailed 9-2. Although the girls were drained they were able to go on a run and tie the game up at 11 points throughout the game. In the final seconds of the half, Nazareth was able to get a bucket from inside the paint and take the lead going into the halftime break.
The score at the halftime break was 13-11 with Whiteface trailing.
Leading the Lady Lopes in scoring at the half was Olenga as she had four points, all of them coming from inside the paint.
Going into the third quarter of the game both teams offense’s would struggle to get anything going as they neither team would be able to score until there was 3:49 left in the third quarter. Whiteface was able to outscore Nazareth 7-3 and take the small lead 18-16 at the end of the third.
For the final quarter of the game Whiteface gave up the lead and get two free throw shots in the quarter with Olenga hitting one and missing one to get the team within one point in the final minutes of the game. Whiteface missed one of their shots as Nazareth would grab the rebound, although they had the ball the Swiftettes turned the ball over after their outlet pass would be stolen with 41 second left in the game. Whiteface would inbound the ball and get the shot off but would miss the floater that would give them the lead at the end of the game, leading them to foul and try to make a three point shot to tie the game. With nine second left in the game Whiteface would get a shot off, but it wouldnt fall for them as they would lose by three points for their final game of playoffs.
Leading the Lady Lopes in scoring at the half was Morgan Waggoner who had six points, all of them from beyond the arch.
Olenga finished the game with five points, Emily and Hannah Blankenship would both had three points a piece, Emma Ayers had two and Kylie Deavors finished the game with one point in the teams loss.
Whiteface Lady Lopes would finish off their season with a 31-5 record on the year and end as District, Bi-District, Area and Regional Quarterfinal champions on the year under Head Girls Basketball Coach Jason Blankenship and Assistant Coach Katie Turnipseed.