District Play Looms for Lady Leps
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Left to right, La Grange’s Macie Collier, Avery Griffin, Kylie Trlicek and Campbell Cooper converge on this Cornerstone drive to the basket in Friday’s game. Photo by Jeff Wick -
District Play Looms for Lady Leps -
District Play Looms for Lady Leps -
From left to right, La Grange’s Mylah Blaschke, Campbell Cooper and Faith Greenwood in action in Friday’s game against San Antonio Cornerstone Christian. Photos by Jeff Wick
While most of their classmates were having a relaxing post-Christmas break, the La Grange girls basketball players had a busy week on the court – as district play looms just days away.
Last week the Lady Leps, in a stacked field of 28 teams at The Aggieland Invitational Tournament, went 3-2, including wins over Pollack Central, Graham and Glen Rose before they fell to Bridge City and La Vernia.
Then Friday the Lady Leps hosted San Antonio Cornerstone Christian, but lost 73-46.
“It’s been a really good week for us,” said La Grange head coach Ryan O’Neal, whose team is now 17-8 overall. “We played some really good opponents. I told the girls the next three games (after starting the tournament 3-0) would be gauntlets, and they were. We needed these games. We’re learning a lot from them, preparing us for district.”
Friday Cornerstone (which has a 22-5 record) came out early and really shot well to build a 27-9 first quarter lead and they never looked back.
But down 44-16 at halftime, La Grange fought back.
“I’m really happy with the way we competed in the second half, somehow ended up winning the second half by a point,” O’Neal said. “We could have gone either way in the second half – and we chose to play hard.”
Kylie Trlicek scored 16 points to lead La Grange Friday.
“It was definitely challenging, coming off the break and against a lot of tough teams but we persevered, played as a team, played hard and had some great, great games,” Trlicek said. “I think we’re ready for district.”
Campbell Cooper and Macie Collier each scored nine for La Grange Friday. Mylah Blaschke scored six, Avery Griffin scored five and Hannah Gross scored one.
The La Grange girls play Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Anderson Shiro and then open district play Friday at Smithville. O’Neal said defense will be the key to his team’s success in district.
“When we can guard we can get out and run,” O’Neal said. “When we communicate and guard and block out we can compete with anybody. That’s what we learned from the tournament, and that’s what we need to carry forward.”