Varsity girls suffer losses before taking holiday break

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lady Lions suffered a pair of home losses last week in their final outings before the start of district play, falling 42-23 to Richland Springs on Tuesday, Dec. 7, and 34-12 to Gordon on Friday, Dec. 10.

The Lady Lions opened the District 10-2A schedule on Tuesday night, Dec. 14 against the Haskell Maidens. Albany was on the losing side of the scoreboard, with details to be reported next week.

Against Richland Springs last week, Albany fell behind 16-2 in the first quarter and never recovered.

“We had lots of trouble finishing our shots,” Lady Lions coach Tate Thompson said. “That snowballs into fastbreaks for the opponent and got us in a bind early on. We’ve got a bunch of young kids who are learning about the game, so every experience is important to us.”

Kiana Roberson scored 12 points to lead Albany. Caroline Holson added five points. Callan Edgar and Braylyn Abbate each scored two points, while Ashlyn Holson and Lizzie Chavez scored one apiece.

Against Gordon, which was a late addition to the schedule, the Lady Lions again struggled to score, trailing 8-2 in the first quarter and 18-6 at halftime. Gordon led 28-8 entering the fourth quarter.

“We had trouble scoring early on, and that really set the tone for our struggle,” Thompson said. “I believe if we would have finished some of our shots early on, it might have changed our  whole demeanor.”

Ashlyn Holson led Albany with seven points. Roberson scored three points, and Chavez had two.

A district bye is on the schedule for Friday, Dec. 17, so the girls will be idle through the weekend, although team pictures are set for Friday morning during practice.

The Lady Lions will  host Hawley on Tuesday, Dec. 21 and participate in the Eula tournament Dec. 27-29 before resuming district play on Jan. 4 at Hamlin.