The Levelland Loboettes faced off against the Mineral Wells Lady Rams for the first round of playoffs in Merkel where the team won 43-31.
The start of the game had Levelland outsourcing the Lady Rams 11-9, but it could have been better as the Loboettes struggled to shoot the ball from long range getting only one to connect in the first.
For the second quarter of play Levelland kept it close once again since their offense struggled to get going from down town. The score would have been tied up at 16 a piece for the teams, but before the buzzer Olivia Velardez was able to get a buzzer beater corner three to give the Loboettes the three point lead going into the halftime break.
The score at the halftime break was Levelland leading 1916.
Going into the third quarter of play Levelland lost the lead with three minutes left in the third quarter as they trailed the game by as much as two points. Although they would trail at one point the Loboettes would fight their way back into the lead as they led Mineral Wells by five points going into the fourth quarter.
For the final quarter of play Levelland got a scare as they would extend their lead up to nine points with five minutes remaining but allowed the Lady Rams to go on a last second run to get the game within six points. Although Mineral Wells was able to stay in the game they were no match for the Loboette defense as they stifiled the Mineral Wells offense and kept their season alive with their free throw shooting.
Velardez led the team in scoring on the night as she had 11 points, being the only Loboette to hit from long range getting six of her points from deep.
Presley Smith and Leilani Sanchez both had 10 points a piece, Emery Smith had four, Carly Tienda had three, Sydnii Joyce had two and Mia Morin finished the game with one point in the teams win.
The Loboettes progress to the Area round of playoffs where they will face off against the Krum Lady Cats this Thursday at Anson High School at 6 p.m.