The #5 ranked Whiteface Lady Lopes faced off against #21 ranked Christoval in the Area Round of the 2A Division 2 girls basketball playoffs this past Thursday at Sands High School, beating them 41-39 in overtime to win the Area Championship.
The Lady Lopes trailed 20-12 at halftime after struggling to make shots early, but they would respond by outscoring Christoval 16-7 in the third quarter to take the lead. The two teams would end regulation deadlocked at 35-35 before Whiteface outscored them 6-4 in overtime to earn the win.
“I’m super proud of the resilience of this team,” Lady Lopes Head Basketball Coach Jason Blankenship said. “It wasn’t our best game of the season, but our heart showed up big down the stretch with clutch shots, free throws and rebounds.”
The win improves the Lady Lopes to 33-2 overall and marks their 29th in a row, advancing them to the Regional Semifinals Round of the playoffs.
Scorers for the Lady Lopes in the win included Lainey Sanders with 18 points behind three three-pointers made and 5/7 free throws made, Emily Blankenship with 13 points behind three three-pointers made and 2/2 free throws made, Kambry Sanders with nine points behind two three-pointers made, and Keyarah Castaneda with one point.
And those team and individual performances are impressive given the in-game adversity faced, but even more so when given the fact that the Whiteface team bus broke down in route to the matchup.
When asked what his team can improve on in the Regional Semifinals, Coach Blankenship jokingly said a better bus along with more efficient team shooting.
Hopefully the first is a given as the Lady Lopes travel to Canyon High School to face Gruver early in the week.
Gruver is ranked #10 and sits at 28-5 overall on a 19-game win streak as the undefeated 2A District 5 Champions.