It took No. 5 Stephenville 16 minutes to take sole lead of District 6-4A basketball Friday night at the new Gandy Gym as the Honeybees had enough points by halftime to down Gatesville in a 67-29 thumping of the Lady Hornets.
For the second straight game, freshman Mya Wesley came off the bench to score 16 points and lead all scorers as Alee McClendon, and Mya Wilson also got into double-figure scoring with 13 points each.
Despite coming in a heavy favorite there was some serious pressure on Coach Jason Hodges and the Honeybees to come away with a victory on the inaugural night and rededication of the new Gandy Gym.
“There definitely was some pressure on us tonight to come away with a win especially when our sub-varsity teams had come away with victories,” Hodges said. “It was all or nothing tonight and I thought our varsity responded well. We started practicing in here Wednesday. We had great practices and a shoot around this morning. We weren’t going to let anything stand between us and a win. It was amazing!”
Gatesville led only one time when the Bees failed to score on their first possession, and the Hornets spotted themselves a 2-0 lead.
After McClendon clanged home the Bees’ first two buckets, it turned into a runaway, with Gatesville getting just two more backdoor buckets, and Stephenville ran out to a 16-6 lead.
The Bees’ defense got even nastier in the second quarter as Gatesville put up just five points, and Stephenville repeated its offensive output with another 16 points behind the scoring of Landri Withers, Jaylee Matthews, Mya Wilson, McClendon, Jade Wilson and Zoe Birdwell.
Stephenville’s third-quarter offense may have been its best one of the season as the Bees drained shot after shot and rang up 27 points in the stanza as Wesley and Mya Wilson exploded for nine points each.
Adding to the scoring totals were Matthews with 9, Withers 8, Trysten Monk 4, Jade Wilson 2, Birdwell 2.
What was the transition to the new gym like for the Bees?
“There is a little more depth perception on the goal, the gym is a little bit wider and the lighting is much brighter,” Hodges said. “We spent a lot of time shooting on both goals in preparation.
Stephenville (16-1, 3-0) travels to Brownwood Tuesday to take on the Lady Lions, who are 6-10 on the year and 1-2 in district play.
“We need to stay focused and know that everyone out there is coming after us. They will all be giving us their best shot,” Hodges said. “That’s what happens when you are the leader.”
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