Polk County Sports

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Goodrich had a chance to send Friday's game versus Burkeville into overtime at the buzzer, but fell a bit short in a 49-46 contest. 

Down by three with nine seconds remaining, Goodrich inbounded the ball. They missed two field goals in the lane before tossing up a last-second heave from behind the arc that bounced off the front of the rim. 

"It is hard to beat somebody when you can't make free throws," Goodrich coach Lester King said of the team's 8-for-20 performance from the charity stripe. "With all the layups we missed, it is hard. Kids are standing around and they don't realize that you have to rebound." 

The Hornets led 15-5 after the first period, yet were not on the positive side of any quarter following. 

The Mustangs had three players score in double digits and only four players that registered a point. The Hornets were led by Joacxi Garzon, who had a game-high of 23 points, Brandon Izaguirre with 10 and Dartavian Nickson with eight. 

The Hornets have a bye Tuesday and then go to Chester Friday to begin the second half of district play. 

"We will spend Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on the baseline (running)," King said. Making free throws will get you off of it. Otherwise, we will stay there a while. 

"With the type of ball that we play, we haven't played a team yet this year that has shot more free throws. We are playing man-to-man defense. We've got one senior that we will lose and the rest of them are coming back. We've got some kids in eighth grade that are coming up, so we will be pretty good next year." 

King is beginning to feel better about his team's chances in district. Goodrich has just one win in 28-1A play, but he feels there is enough parity for every game to be competitive. 

"That was the last game of the first half. We can go through the second-half and beat everybody almost. That should show it right there.  

"These kids are trying to do too much on offense, but I want you to break your neck on defense -- not offense. Take your time and wait for a good shot. They will see it on video. We had plenty of opportunities and plenty of good shots. If you get to the rim, you should score. We got the lead a little bit and we got relaxed. We stopped really concentrating on defense. I hope we are learning."

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The Goodrich Lady Hornets got a spark in the locker room that vaulted the team to a comfortable 51-24 win Friday over Burkeville.

The Lady Hornets led 13-10 at the half, but received some “encouragement” to play with increased intensity in the final two frames.

“I told them that Monday it would be tough,” Khadijah Carter said of the next practice. “I told them mostly just to get the ball inside. They cannot stop us inside and we are more of an inside team than an outside team. We needed to play good defense and that is what we did.”

The Lady Hornets got to the basket with urgency in the second half, creating points with both its offense and off turnovers. The result was a 22-point third quarter and 16 points in the final period — both more than they collected in all of the first half.

Latrina Morgan led all scores with 30 points, Breya Passmore had 13 and Aralyn Angel had six. The Lady Mustangs never accumulated more than eight points in a quarter.

Carter says the season has been a little bit rough for her kids, but believes that her young group has done some growing up over the past few months.

“This is our second district win,” Carter said. “The first game wasn't by as many (44-35) as we beat them this time. I feel like we have improved even since last game. The competition was a different level.”

Carter said the team's ability to see inside and find the open player has improved. Though her group rushes at times, the coach likes the pace which the Lady Hornets are beginning to play.

“We are taking our time moving the ball, finding the holes, getting open and passing it when we need to.”

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BRIAN BESCH | PCE Chris Washington leans in for the dunk attempt.

The Lions established an early lead with its defense versus Liberty Tuesday, winning a 61-35 contest over the Panthers.

A 20-2 lead early in the second quarter was enough to allow Livingston to coast for a while. They did coast, and Liberty closed the advantage to 10 points at 25-15 early on in the third quarter. 

"The first half, we played OK, but we still didn't play with a lot of energy," Livingston coach Calvin Phillips said. "Then, we came back in the second half and I thought we were going too slow. We talked about putting more man-to-man full court pressure on in the second half so we could get ourselves going. That kind of helped us out."

The man-to-man defense indeed helped, as Livingston scored 23 points in the period to quell any chance of a Panther comeback. 

Chris Washington led the way with a dozen points, while Izzy Enard had 11 and Julian Gardner added nine.

"I will take a win any way that it goes," Phillips said. "We are back tied for fourth now and we've got Hamshire-Fannett. If we can get them, that would be a big win for us right there."

Livingston fell to Hamshire-Fannett in the first round by seven points. The hope is they can take a week to prepare with an open date Friday and get a win that would propel the team into playoff contention. The Longhorns are currently tied for fourth place with the Lions. 

Phillips said his first year as head coach at Livingston is not going how he planned.

"I don't like where I am at, I will be upfront with you on that. When I stepped in the gym at the beginning of the year, I saw the size and athleticism of those guys. I thought we would probably be in the running. We started off 5-0 and dropped off and started playing very erratic. It's kind of been disappointing, but I will still take what we have. I am hoping that we will finish up strong and peak out in the second half and get some more wins."

The coach said that he wonders if all of his athletes are committed to him or if they are still trying to figure him out the same way he is trying to figure them out.

"They don't know how to take me. I get on them hard sometimes and in this time and age, some kids don't take that kind of coaching anymore. You have to be more positive and not run them so much in a negative mode. I'm learning them and they are learning me, and if we can get in that fourth spot (playoff seed), that would be a blessing."

The coach said in order to reach the postseason, his team's shooting would need to improve so the half-court offense can be more productive. The team now relies heavily on its defense to create offense.

After the road trip to Hamshire-Fannett Tuesday, the Lions will host district leaders Huffman Hargrave next Friday.

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BRIAN BESCH | PCE Kenadi Houser shoots for two in the lane.

The Onalaska Lady Cats proved just how far the team has come in a month's time, defeating New Waverly 63-27 Friday by the lake.

In their first meeting, the Lady Dogs took a 51-37 match from December. Whether revenge, redemption, payback or just the will to win, Onalaska left little doubt from the start. They took an early 14-4 lead and led by 11 by the end of the first period. 

A quarter later, the advantage grew to 32-12.

"If you go back to the game that we played at New Waverly, it wasn't even the same team," Onalaska coach Ashley Sustaita said. "We have done a complete rehaul of attitude and mindsets. They are totally bought in to their role and their job, and it's all 12 of them. They do such a good job of doing what I need them to and what the team needs them to do."

The struggles for New Waverly continued, as a suffocating Lady Cat defense held the opponent to just 14 points through three quarters. 

"We don't have a dominant kid and we've had teams try to box-and-one us," Sustaita said. "We just have such a great team right now and it is awesome to be a part of."

Sustaita feels each player knowing their role and how they fit into the team was the problem before. That appears to be settled, with the team shuffling five girls in and out and each playing a part.

"It's easy to want to be the top dog or not have any responsibility. I'm very open with my girls and very transparent with what I want them to do to be successful. We definitely put 'we' before 'me' every single day.

"I always tell my kids that we don't have starters. We have five kids that I think we need to start the game, but they know that it may not be the five that we need to finish the game to win it for us. Being ready on the bench and being active in the game is so important."

Kierra Anstee led the Lady Cats with 19 points, Kenadi Houser and Jordyn Shutter each had a dozen, and Maddie Stelck had eight.

"We have some freshmen who have stepped up defensively and have done a good job. It has been awesome to see our juniors take them under their wing and be excited for them. 

"On the last play, it was a freshman that shot the ball and my junior point guard is over there losing her mind for her. That is family and it is what we preach. I think we've done a good job of changing the culture here for women's basketball at Onalaska."