Lady Lions finish at quarterfinals
By Donnie A. Lucas
Advancing to the third round of the Class 2A playoffs for the first time in 25 years, the Lady Lions faced the familiar Stamford Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday, suffering a season-ending 49-39 loss.
Albany finished the season with a 22-11 overall record, including 6-4 in District 8-2A behind Stamford (8-2) in second and Haskell (10-0) in first. The Lady Lions lost both games to the Lady Bulldogs in district.
The Lady Bulldogs move on to the Regional Tournament that starts Friday in Levelland, facing Gruver in the first game.
“We made a couple of good runs at them, but we made costly mistakes in the third quarter, and you can’t do that against a team like Stamford,” head coach Tate Thompson said. “We made another run in the fourth, but it was too late to make up ground.”
The coach said that he was very proud of the team, especially since it has been 25 years since any girls basketball team advanced to the regional quarterfinal playoff.
“This group did an amazing job of surpassing all expectations,” the coach said. “They are real competitors.”
Albany 13 6 8 12 - 39
Stamford 15 11 8 15 - 49
Scoring for the Lady Lions were Torie Fuentes 10, Brylee Moore 5, Cydney Nelson 2, Alli Hill 7, Sarah Cotter 4, Tana Thompson 2, and Jaleigh Morales 9.
The Lady Lions earned an area-round trophy with a 57-51 win over Wink last Friday in Big Spring.
“I have always been proud of these girls for their resilience and character, but this game made me more proud than ever before,” Thompson said. “Wink’s players started taking cheap shots and losing their cool, but our girls stayed calm and kept competing.”
The coach commended the entire team for offensive effort, while Jaleigh Morales was named for defense.
“This group is special, and the fact that only one other Lady Lion team has ever made it this far attests to that,” the coach said.
Albany 14 13 17 13 - 57
Wink 12 13 17 9 - 51
Scoring against Wink were Torie Fuentes 8, Brylee Moore 4, Alli Hill 13, Traci Isbell 6, Morales 14, and Sarah Cotter 12.
