By Donnie A. Lucas

Albany girls basketball players picked up several All-District selections for District 8-2A, including one superlative.

Senior Jaleigh Morales was named the  Offensive MVP by the district’s coaches. The standout racked up well over 1,000 points during her three years in Albany, receiving special recognition at the Lady Lions’ final home game.

The Lady Lions finished third in the district race with a 6-4 record, while Haskell (10-0) and Stamford (8-2) took first and second.

By Melinda L. Lucas

After taking a week off for spring break, members of the Albany High School tennis team will be back in action on Wednesday, March 18, hosting Breckenridge players  at the local courts starting at 2:00 p.m.

AHS athletes will then participate in the Seymour Invitational, with girls playing on March 25 and boys on March 30.

The district meet is set for the following week on April 6 and April 8 at Abilene’s Rose Park Tennis Center.

By Kathy Thomson

Moran High School’s boys and girls track teams competed in their first meet of the year last Thursday, Feb. 27, and will run in another meet this Friday before taking a week off for spring break.  

“The guys and girls competed in the Santa Anna Relays this past week and had a really good showing,” said coach John Hughes. “There is still some work to do, but we have a great starting point for the rest of the season.”

The boys finished 11th overall, with 21.5 points, while the girls took fourth place with a score of 59.

By Kathy Thomson

Moran High School tracksters opened the season in Santa Anna on Thursday, Feb. 27.

Results of the meet were not available at press time and will be reported next week.

The junior high teams will head to May for a meet on Tuesday, March 2.

Head track coach John Hughes is pleased with participation numbers.

“We have 22 kids out for high school track and 15 for junior high,” said Hughes. “With the large numbers, we should do well at the district meet.”

Basketball Finale

By Donnie A. Lucas

It was a true cat fight in Tuscola on Monday, with the Lions and the Christoval Cougars clawing their way to a 33-33 tie at the end of regulation time in the bi-district round of the Class 2A playoffs.

The Cougars came out on top, outscoring Albany 10-6 in overtime for a 43-39 win.

“I thought the guys did a great job of playing hard tonight,” coach Ryder Peacock said. “Defensively, we did exactly what we needed to do to keep the game around 40 points by not allowing Christoval to run transition and eliminate second-chance points.”

By Melinda L. Lucas

A few members of Albany High School’s tennis team saw their first action of the 2020 season on Feb. 20, traveling to Rose Park in Abilene to participate in the Hawley Invitational Tournament.

Tennis coach Sara Wilson said that the six local players who were able to compete last week did “surprisingly well considering it was their first tournament of the year” with limited practice time.

Albany hosted Throckmorton and Cisco on Wednesday. Results will be reported next week.

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.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Junior high track teams traveled to Knox City on Monday, earning a number of medals and ribbons.

The four teams will compete at Breckenridge on Tuesday, March 3, starting at 3:30 p.m.

Results for both girls teams were received, but records weren’t kept for the boys teams. Several events were run in heats with just heat results reported.

8th Grade Girls

2400 m run – 2. Maci Hatchett 11:06. 4. Callan Edgar 13:24.

100 m dash – 1. Robin Lucas 14.08. 1. Kiana Roberson 15.06. 2. Braylyn Abbate 15.02.

By Donnie A. Lucas

The Lady Lion softball team is off to a strong start, winning three of the first four games.

Albany will play in the Stephenville tournament on Thursday through Saturday, playing two games each day.

Albany will play South Hills at 2:15 p.m. on Thursday, followed by a 5:45 p.m. bout versus Krum. On Friday, the team will face Godley at 9:00 a.m. and Midway JV at 2:15 p.m., followed by a Saturday morning game at 9:00 a.m. against Eastland. Bracket play will be played later in the day based on the results of the first five rounds.

By Kathy Thomson

Boys and girls on Albany Little Dribblers teams played their third set of games last weekend on Saturday, Feb. 22, and will finish out their year this Saturday, Feb. 29.

Three girls teams and four boys teams are each playing two games every Saturday throughout the season.

The final set of matches will take place this Saturday, Feb. 29, starting at 8:30 a.m. with a match between the boys’ Red and Black teams. The first game of the day for the girls will be at 9:30 a.m. between Purple and Red.