Polk County Sports

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Johnny Byrd lunges for the bucket. Bryan Wyatt puts up a shot around a defender. Ryder Smith goes in for the layup. Photos by Brian Besch

By Brian Besch
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Both teams put up plenty of points, but it would be Shepherd that won an 86-74 battle in San Jacinto County Tuesday night over the Wildcats of Onalaska.

After winning two district games in a row, Onalaska was looking to make a run in league play that would vault the team into playoff contention.

However, they could not stop a Pirate offense that performed at its peak.

Though the Wildcats were able to put up plenty of points, big posts Braydon Mettlen and Tristen Cullum changed enough shots down low in the paint to keep shooters wary.

“We adjusted for no reason, because he wasn’t really contesting anything,” Onalaska coach Nick Tyerman said. “That is just on us, we have to do a better job of not letting size intimidate us and just finish. We let them dictate the tempo early and that hurt us. That is why we got ourselves in a hole. We can’t let other teams dictate our pace. We let it be slower than we want it to be and we weren’t as active creating turnovers. We didn’t rotate to where we needed to be. It is hard whenever you’re beating yourself. We weren’t as active on both sides of the floor as we have been and should be.” 

Shepherd would score more than its guests in all but the second period, when the teams put up 17 points each. That would be the lowest production for the Pirates, who had 27 in the final quarter.

“Tonight, we brought it,” Shepherd coach Jeremy Bennett said. “They switched it up on us and did something different. We didn’t even practice on it, we just adjusted and made good plays. We played great defensively, and offensively we put up 86 points. That is a high this season. We are gelling and we are coming together.”

Shepherd is currently in a three-way tie with Coldspring and Tarkington for third place. New Waverly and Crockett are tied for first place atop the district with 6-1 records.

“We came back after the break and were kind of sluggish, but now we have just picked it up,” Bennett said. “This is our fourth win in a row. We were 1-3 in district and I challenged the kids to get these last three. We got the last three and now a fourth one, so they are stepping up to the challenge.”

Mettlen scored 23 points to lead all scores, while Pirates Cullum had 19, Payton Burton 18 and Jesse Valerie 17. For the ‘Cats, Brady Smith had 16, Kash Soliz and Bryan Wyatt had 12, and Johnny Byrd 11.

At Trinity Friday and back home for Tarkington Tuesday are next up for Onalaska. Shepherd will have a tip at Tarkington Friday and return home Tuesday for Crockett.

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Briana Miles gets past a defender for the attempt. Savanna Poncho puts up a jump shot. Kalyssa Dickens led the Lady Cats with 16 points. Photos by Brian Besch

By Brian Besch
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The Big Sandy girls completed one round of district play Friday night by defeating the Lady Bobcats of Hull-Daisetta 54-33 in Dallardsville.

The game was close at the end of the third quarter with the Lady Wildcats holding just a four-point lead at 37-33. However, the Big Sandy defense would ensure a comfortable win, holding Hull-Daisetta scoreless in the final period.

After a bit of a slow start in the first half, the 17 points in the final quarter was the most of any. The Lady Bobcats are improved this season, with a new coach in Dennis Stewart, the former Leggett coach that led the Pirates to an appearance at the state championship.

However, Big Sandy is strong once again, undefeated in district play after one round.

“We missed 13 free throws in the game and that is not the only thing that we didn’t do very well tonight,” Big Sandy coach Ryan Alec said. “We turned the ball over too much and we’re not reading the defense as well as I wanted us to. In certain parts of the game, we have to understand certain situations. We have to be smarter at taking care of possessions and getting into a flow of our offense. In the first half, we didn’t play as well. In the second half, turnovers, again, kind of hurt us. It was one of those things where we didn’t play well, but we played well enough to win.”
Kalyssa Dickens led all scores with 16 points, Alexis Thompson had 13 and Faith Geller 10.

The coach also had some positives for the team.

“I thought our defense stepped up big in the fourth quarter. We made some adjustments and started double-teaming on (Vaquaylon Haskins) a little bit,” Alec said. “That created some turnovers for us, and I thought our defense late in the second half stepped up big for us. We came down and took advantage of those. We had our bigs go up and grab the rebound and get shots back out to our guards. Post play did well today. We tried to get the ball inside quite a bit.”

The coach talked about running his offense away from Haskins, one of the quicker athletes in the district. He felt that gave his team an advantage in the second half. One of the area’s better scorers in Kaylei Armstrong was held to 14 points. She has scored as much as 71 in a game.

“I was proud of our kids. There are things that we have to work on and get better at. We will talk about that as a team on Monday, but overall, I am happy with this win. This is a good win for us.”

The second half began Tuesday with home tip versus Sabine Pass. Friday could provide a stiff challenge, on the road at Evadale.

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Elias Bullock lifts a shot over six Bobcat arms for two points. Jorden Martinez gets two of his eight points. Tavian Battise floats through the lane. He had six points in Friday’s win. Photos by Brian Besch

By Brian Besch
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Wildcat basketball jumped out to a big lead early for homecoming and cruised to a 70-26 win over the Hull-Daisetta Bobcats Friday.

After one half, Big Sandy was sitting on top of a 40-10 lead and the game had been decided. The Wildcat defense did not allow more than eight points in a quarter, even after emptying the bench.

“For the most part, our defense this year has been good,” head coach Kevin Foster said. “Sometimes, we struggle to finish the possessions with a rebound and that is frustrating at times. I think where we have to get better is just finishing possessions. I thought our intensity was really good tonight and we really got after it defensively.”

The offense wasn’t bad either. It averaged 20 points per quarter until the fourth, when inexperience on the court slowed the pace. In total, the Wildcats were 18-for-25 from the free-throw line and hit six 3-pointers.

“As far as offense goes, we turned it over a little bit too much early, but we were able to clean that up,” Foster said. “Moving forward for us, one of the things that we chart on the bench is turnovers and offensive rebounds for the other team. When our turnovers are down and we’re not giving up a lot of offensive rebounds, we’ve got a shot to win a lot of games. That is really our focus.”

Elias Bullock had 16 points to lead the game, while teammates Kaden Foster and Jason Valderez had 13 each, Javen Criswell had 12, and Jorden Martinez eight. No Bobcat scored more than six points.

The entire Wildcat roster was able to participate in Friday’s game, with most breaking into the score column. Big Sandy now holds a record of 20-6. They are 3-0 in district and have a state ranking of No. 10 in Class 2A, according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll. 

“We have to make sure our execution is good, especially this time of year. I was proud of the way the kids played tonight. We got after it pretty good.”

A home game with Sabine Pass Tuesday was next on the schedule, while the toughest challenge offered in District 25-2A awaited last Friday on a road trip to Evadale.

Area scoreboard

BOYS
Hardin-Jefferson 72 Livingston 53
Timpson 77 Corrigan-Camden 59
Leggett 98 Chester 35
Onalaska 66 Coldspring 62
Brookeland 71 Goodrich 20
Hemphill 57 Woodville 54
West Sabine 73 Colmesneil 31
Hamshire-Fannett 82 Liberty 35
Diboll 80 Pineywoods 33
Huffman Hargrave 51 Splendora 37

GIRLS
Chester 73 Leggett 37
Anderson-Shiro 58 Tarkington 55
Huntington 78 Newton 25
Groveton 46 Latexo 30
San Augustine 59 Broaddus 56

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Norett Sweats led the team with seven points. Norett Sweats led the team with seven points. Photos by Brian Besch

By Brian Besch
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The Corrigan-Camden girls lost a 52-15 district contest to West Sabine Tuesday, but showed plenty of effort after the first quarter.

It took two minutes for West Sabine to go up 11-0, and the Lady Dogs would not score until down 18 points. Corrigan-Camden trailed 18-2 at the end of the opening period.

They were held to single digits in every period, and new head coach Khadijah Carter wants her team taking more shots to improve there.

“We came out in the second half a little bit better. The first quarter was horrible,” Carter said, shaking her head. “In the second quarter, we actually started moving, but I had to bring in my second string to start getting shots, and they were actually moving the ball. We’ve just got to shoot it more and communicate more.”

The Lady Dogs showed better on defense in the second and fourth quarters, holding the Lady Tigers to just nine and eight points, respectively.

Noretta Sweats led the team with seven points, while Kalyn Smith, Kashe Mack and Jania Mack also broke into the points column.

Since arriving in Corrigan from Coldspring, Carter has tried to develop skills with her young group.

“It is just the basics and fundamentals,” she said. “We are building from the ground up and we only have one senior. We have two juniors, a sophomore, and the rest are freshmen. It is basically starting all over again.”

Starting over again isn’t new for the coach. She took a team in need of help that had seldom seen the win column at Goodrich and improved on past performance. However, Carter knows the process will not occur overnight.

“I just want them to give it all they’ve got. There are a couple of games that we can win if they give the same energy that they gave last week. If they can give that kind of energy, it should be way better. I just need effort.”