The sixth ranked Levelland Loboettes eliminated the Bridgeport Sisses, 44-18, in Hamlin Friday evening to become the 4A Region 1 Area Champions.
Scheduled for a 5 p.m. tipoff, the game wouldn’t get underway until 5:45 p.m. due to the lack of officials which was chalked up to miscommunication for game time.
Leading up to the tip off, both teams had to manage an extra 45 minutes of dead time which included both teams heading into the locker room multiple times, and going through shoot around routines multiple times.
In an effort to keep some form of familiarity and routine for both squads, it was hard not to notice the unorthodox circumstances and how the added time would affect either the Loboettes or Sisses.
With a full set of zebras on the court, the game began at a snail’s pace for both teams.
The Loboettes put points on the board first after a handful of minutes of scoreless basketball.
Five different Loboettes contributed points in the first quarter to get Levelland to 11 points, while the Sissies struggled offensively scoring a pair of freethrows to end the quarter.
In both the Bi-District and Area rounds of playoffs, the Loboette defense has been the mainstay in their attack.
Loboette Head Coach Clay Barnett has mentioned many times that his teams can control their defensive effort.
While there may be a few nights shots can’t hit, aggressive defense and effort have kept the Loboettes in contention every game.
The match-up against the Sissies proved to be the same. Unable to find any comfort with a suffocating Loboette defense, the Sissies struggled with ball movement and reciprocating the same type of physical defense which would result in forced turnovers or tie-balls.
The frustration from the Bridgeport side continued to become more evident as the action progressed through the second half.
It was an uneventful second quarter for both teams as points were at a premium. Levelland would muster one point from Carly Tienda as she split a pair of free-throws.
Bridgeport would be held scoreless in the quarter. Leading 12-2 at the half, points were slim, but the number of shot attempts weren’t.
As the second half got underway, the Loboettes hit their stride offensively growing their lead.
Bridgeport was able to find open looks in the first and second half, but the ball could never find the net.
Putting together an 18-point third quarter, the Loboettes never looked back and capped off their lead with a 14-point fourth quarter.
The Sissies found some offensive success with a ninepoint third and fourth quarter to break into double digits.
By the end of the third quarter and with a 30-11 lead, the Loboettes all but felt like the momentum and the win were essentially within grasp.
Levelland’s Emery Smith led all scorers with 16 points and had three 3-pointers to finish the game.
Olivia Velardez has become a reliable offensive weapon during this year’s playoff run with double figures for the second game in a row with 10 points.
Tienda had seven points while Destynii Jones managed four points off the bench. Madison Stafford had a three-pointer early in the action while Laci White and Angelica Gonzales had two points.
Bridgeport would go without a double figure scorer in the season ending loss.
The Loboette’s would shoot 18-45 from the field at 40 percent and 5-19 from three-point range at 26 percent.
Bridgeport would hit just three field goals on 30 attempts but would go 12-15 from the freethrow- line.
Levelland would turn 33 Sissie turnovers into 18 points while Bridgeport couldn’t score off of 17 turnovers by Levelland.
The Levelland Loboettes move to 32-3 overall.