Stephenville trailed 21-14 early, but a rock-solid defensive effort and a steady around-the-court offense throttled Winnsboro into submission for a 54-43 first-round win in the 61st annual Whataburger Basketball Tournament at Saginaw High School Thursday.
The Honeybees (16-3) are in the Orange bracket of the tournament and have two games to play today regardless of the outcome of their 9 a.m. matchup against Nazareth.
Winnsboro (11-8) jumped out to an early 21-14 lead as sophomore
Stephenville had been without the services of senior Jayci Morton who has been sidelined due to injury, and the talented forward made her presence known over the remaining three quarters with 13 points.
The Bees didn’t make a single trip to the free-throw line in the first quarter but made up for it in the remainder of the way connecting on 20-of-31 shots. Kassidy Nowak and Morton led the way at the line with five each while Mikayla Diaz was a perfect 4-for-4.
Down 31-27 heading into the third quarter the Bees began to smother the Winnsboro offense allowing only six third-quarter points and seizing a 41- 37 lead they never surrendered.
SCORING—Madison Gilder 4, Kassidy Nowak 11, Hannah Bernays 2, Jayci Morton 13, Mikayla Diaz 4, Alee McClendon 16, Jettie Funderburgh
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