By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com
STEPHENVILLE (February 7, 2017) — In 8-4A, the girls district basketball race has come down to the final game of the regular season for a pair of perennial powers ranked among the top 10 teams in the classification statewide.
Godley has a leg up but Stephenville has a chance at vengeance when the No. 4 Lady Cats host the No. 10 Honeybees at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Godley won the first meeting, 46-32, giving the Lady Cats a one-game lead atop the 8-4A standings.
A Godley win means an outright title for the Lady Cats, while the Honeybees are trying to give Stephenville a share of the district crown. Either way, the district race ends tonight, as Stephenville head coach Alan Thorpe says an agreement is already in place to simply flip a coin to determine the seeding if Stephenville pulls off an upset Tuesday.
“What better way to end the season and get ready for the playoffs?” asked Thorpe, rhetorically. “We’re full, so we can’t do a practice game, but I wouldn’t want to anyway. I can’t imagine a better way to prep for the playoffs than by facing Godley.”
Even with Ebony Green out of the lineup and Stephenville shooting poorly from the 3-point line and foul stripe, the Bees managed to hang tough until the midway point of the fourth quarter in the first meeting.
Then came a technical foul… on a cell phone?
“That’s the explanation I got. The ref said our manager on the bench threw her cell phone at one of their players,” Thorpe said. “When on film you clearly see it just fell out of her hand and it didn’t go in the direction of anybody.”
A scrum for a loose ball spilled over the sideline into the Honeybee bench, and officials did indeed call a technical foul on Stephenville. Godley pulled away from there, and while Thorpe was aggravated by the call – and perhaps still is – he stopped short of hanging the loss on it.
“We were playing from behind anyway and they have a very good Godley basketball team,” said Thorpe. “They certainly don’t need any help to win basketball games, but they got a little there right when we were kind of rallying and gaining momentum.
“The momentum we had was gone after that play,” he added. “It really let the air out of the building.”
Godley tends to let the air out of opponents on a regular basis. It’s suffocating defense must remind Stephenville fans of, well, Stephenville, except the Lady Cats are more potent on the offensive end most nights.
“We held them to 46 points and that’s well below their average, I can tell you that,” said Thorpe. “But our goal is to hold teams under 40, so we still gave them more than we like.”
He has Mikaila Tyer to thank for that, as the Lady Cat guard buried five 3-pointers on her way to 21 points in the first meeting. Her supporting cast is led by the strong post presence of Jaycee Pannell, who scored 12.
“Obviously we need to keep her from hitting five threes, that definitely made a big difference in the game,” said Thorpe. She hit more than we did as a team, so we can’t allow that again. The bottom line is we have to shoot it better ourselves.”
He hopes the presence of Green will assist in that.
“Hailey (Martin) is shooting it really well here lately, and having Ebony back out there should help us,” he said. “And we’ve been a good free throw shooting team most the season, we just weren’t that night. So if we can bring it altogether, get some good shooting at the 3-point line, hit our free throws and just play good, fundamentally sound basketball throughout all four quarters, it should be a great game.”
One that will have both teams geared up for the post season.
“We’re working to set up a doubleheader with Godley (in bi-district),” said Thorpe. “We both know we either play Springtown or Benbrook based on how (7-4A) comes out, so we’re working together to get that done.”
The bi-district doubleheader will be next Monday, February 13, at either Mineral Wells or Granbury, and Stephenville will play at 6 p.m., against Springtown or Benbrook, with Godley immediately following against the other.
“We just need to go out and be solid and play like a team ready to go on a playoff run,” said Thorpe. “This is the time of year you have to peak and have your best performances, and Godley should bring that out of us. With both teams competing for a share of the district title or them to win it outright, it should be a good playoff atmosphere again and that will only help both of us down the road.”
HS Basketball (Tuesday, Feb. 7):
Stephenville girls at Godley, 6:15 p.m.
Dublin girls at Brady, 6:15 p.m.
Hamilton at De Leon girls, 6:15 p.m.
Hico girls at Santo, 6:15 p.m.
Huckabay at Lingleville girls, 6:15 p.m.
Stephenville boys at Godley, 7:45 p.m.
Dublin boys at Brady, 7:45 p.m.
Hamilton at De Leon boys, 7:45 p.m.
Hico boys at Santo, 7:45 p.m.
Huckabay at Lingleville boys, 7:45 p.m.
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