Lady Lions open up with 2 wins

By Donnie A. Lucas

The Lady Lion basketball season officially opened last week, with the JV picking up a win against Graham and the varsity beating Newcastle.

The varsity returned to the court on Tuesday for a home opener against the Abilene Lady Hawks, earning a 39-21 win. Details of the game were not available at press time, but full results will be reported next week.

The JV girls are scheduled to play in the Woodson tournament on Friday and Saturday this week, along with the junior varsity boys.

The varsity Lions will not step onto the court until the conclusion of Albany’s participation in the football playoffs since many of the players are involved in both sports.

The varsity girls will host Snyder on Saturday in a 5:30 p.m. game, followed by both girls’ teams playing at home against Ballinger on Monday, starting at 5:30 p.m., and then hosting Hamlin on Tuesday, Nov. 26 starting at 2:00 p.m. due to an early release for the Thanksgiving holidays.

Girls Beat Newcastle

The Lady Lions got a win in their first game of the season in Newcastle last Saturday, winning 63-16.

“It seemed like the girls came out and picked right back up where we left off last season,” girls head coach Tate Thompson said. “They played very good defense and shot the ball surprisingly well for just being on the court less than a week.”

The coach said the team worked on perfecting certain aspects of the game.

“We were able to work on lots of things and focus on doing the little things right, even when we were up by quite a few points,” he said.

The coach named Jaleigh Morales as the offensive standout of the game, along with Alli Hill on defense.

Albany 20 19 8 16 - 63

Newcastle 2 6 8 0 - 16

Scoring for the Lady Lions were Torie Fuentes 10, Brylee Moore 6, Cydney Nelson 6, Alli Hill 10, Traci Isbell 7, Tana Thompson 2, Carley Green 2, Jaleigh Morales 20.

JV Hosts Graham

The JV girls also won their opener on Nov. 12 at home against the Graham freshmen, 30-25.

“The girls got off to a slow start and were a little rattled,” Thompson said. “They finally settled down and started playing. We were down by seven at the half, but we refocused and did a great job in the second half. I was really proud of the way they were able to make adjustments.”

Presley Green was the offensive leader, with Lizzie Chavez picked as defensive standout.

Albany 3 4 11 12 - 30

Graham 8 6 9 2 - 25

Scoring for the JV were Presley Green 19, Briley Tabor 5, Lizzie Chavez 5, Brylee Moore 2.