This past Tuesday night, the Sundown Roughettes basketball team hosted the Borden County Lady Coyotes, falling to them 53-46.
The loss drops the Roughettes to 6-5 on the season, while Borden County moves to 5-1.
When you take into consideration that Sundown collectively only shot 24% from the field, it’s quite impressive that they hung in there with a great team.
“I am pleased with how the team is playing right now. We are playing some of the top teams in the area and playing them well,” Roughettes Basketball Head Coach Jared Neighbors said. “Our district is a very competitive district, and I believe that playing this type of schedule is necessary to prepare for such a district. It also shows us what we need to work on, which is quite a bit, but the girls play with a lot of intensity and grit and that is the important thing right now. We will continue to focus on the little things and the fundamentals and when it all starts clicking, this is going to be a fun group to watch out for.”
Even though this group is still improving, they still showed some of that grit in their performances against Borden County as the Roughettes had 31 rebounds, 16 steals and three blocks as a team.
Despite the lack of shots falling for the team, several individuals still put together spirited efforts in the loss.
Junior Kathryn Flores led the Roughettes in scoring with 17 points on 5/9 shooting, going 3/6 from three and 4/4 from the free throw line, adding four steals and an assist.
Senior Camry Jourden scored nine points on 1/15 shooting, going 7/8 from the free throw line, also recording eight rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Other standouts included junior Kyndal Taggart with five points, five rebounds, an assist and a steal, freshman Kelbie Powell with four points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and a steal, and junior Kaytlin Clausen with two points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists.
Those stat-sheet stuffing performances against a respectable team can be confidence builders for the Roughettes as they head into the Denver City tournament over the weekend.
The tournament opponent pool includes Denver City, Andrews, Seagraves, Portales, Ropes, Littlefield, Estacado, Levelland, Fort Stockton, Monahans, Midland Classical, Plains and Presidio.
They’ll look to learn from the Borden County loss quickly and use that experience over the weekend in play against numerous highlevel teams in Denver City.