Lady Lions shock #3 Haskell
The Lady Lion basketball team ended the regular season at home Tuesday with a big upset over Haskell, handing the Maidens, ranked third in the state, their only district loss.
Albany fought throughout the game and ended up with a big 37-32 win, electrifying a home crowd at the AHS gym. The Haskell girls have lost only one other game the entire season.
The Lady Lions will advance into the playoffs as the second place seed and are set to play Eldorado, the third place team out of 7-2A, on Monday, Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at Coleman High School. No other details were known at press time.
The Lady Lions had already guaranteed a second place tie with Stamford after a 45-31 win over Hawley on Friday and a tight 33-31 victory on Jan. 29 in Roscoe. After the Haskell win, however, they have sole possession of the second place spot.
Last Week’s Games
“The girls won two road games last week, and I’m really proud of them taking care of business,” said coach Tate Thompson. “We knew it would be a tough week with two games on the road, and we had a very sluggish start in Roscoe.”
Albany trailed after the first quarter for the majority of the game, but put together a 15-2 run in the fourth quarter for the comeback victory.
“We were down by 14 at one point,” the coach said. “But our girls are good at finding a way to win. They just dug down deep and made it happen.”
Torie Fuentes was the offensive standout against Roscoe, while Jillian Guinn was the defensive leader.
“The girls could have easily just given up, but they didn’t,” Thompson said. “They won a really important game for us in order to stay tied for second.”
Scoring for Albany were Fuentes 9, Guinn 4, Carley Green 3, Alli Hill 3, Jaleigh Morales 8, Elia Hebel 2, and Aubrey Moon 4.
Albany 6 6 6 15 - 33
Roscoe 6 11 12 2 - 31
The Lady Lions kept their district placing with the win in Hawley on Friday.
“Hawley had nothing to lose and won’t be making the playoffs, so they had no pressure at all,” Thompson said. “Sometimes those teams can be the most dangerous, so I’m glad that we didn’t underestimate them. We went in with a good defensive effort and took care of things.”
Morales was the leading scorer, while Hebel was tapped as defensive standout.
Albany 9 16 10 8 - 45
Hawley 8 10 5 8 - 31
Scoring for Albany were Fuentes 9, Guinn 8, Hill 8, Morales 15, and Hebel 2.
Results from the Haskell game were not available at press time, but will be reported next week.
JV Falls in Hawley
The JV girls played only one game last week after canceling the trip to Roscoe due to illness.
The team lost in Hawley on Friday, 48-31.
“It was clearly an off night for us,” coach Richard Sullivan said. “It wasn’t just one or two of the girls, but the majority of the team.”
The coach commended Ansleigh Garcia as offensive standout, scoring 13 of the 31 points.
Sara Smith was the defensive standout named by the coach.
Albany JV 10 8 3 10 - 31
Hawley JV 11 4 13 20 - 48
Scoring were Traci Isbell 6, Smith 4, Tana Thompson 1, Elizabeth Chavez 3, Ana Balliew 6, and Garcia 13.
The JV wrapped up the season at home on Tuesday against Haskell. Results will be reported in next week’s issue.
