Archives > Sports
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
The Devri Institute: Owens leads West past former team
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@acnpapers.com
The Plano West girls basketball team has traditionally encountered trouble at Plano East.
That tradition was emphatically rejected Friday night as the Lady Wolves (9-0 in district) established a double-digit lead in the first half and didn't allow it to dip below that plateau in a 75-62 victory over the Lady Panthers (5-4).
"We have a tough time playing in this gym," said Don Patterson, West head coach. "Even when we have elite teams, this is a hard place for us to play."
"We knew this was going to be a tough game," Owens said, "so we came out ready, looking for a fast start so we could pick up the win."
Owens aided that cause with a trifecta of first-quarter 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 22 points.
"I've been practicing a lot," Owens said. "Coach has been on my butt about staying focused and I feel like I did that tonight."
The third of Owens' first-frame 3-pointers put West ahead, 13-3, but East cut that deficit in half by quarter's end. Turnovers would be the Lady Panthers' undoing in the second though as the team, which had 27 on the night, gave the ball away 11 times in the quarter.
Three straight turnovers aided a 10-0 West run which put the Lady Wolves up, 29-15.
"We didn't have enough opportunities on offense and that's because of the turnovers," said LaGwenna Morrow, East head coach. "Giving the ball away and seeing those transition baskets on the other end was really hard to recover from."
Many of those transition baskets were started or finished by sophomore Tyara Warren, who had 11 points to go along with multiple steals. Warren's stat line was similar to senior Brea Mitchell, who scored 16 points and forced multiple turnovers in her West debut.
"Brea had a pretty good breakout game," Patterson said. "She scored points, but she also played good defense and handled the ball well."
West led at the break, 37-25, following a Mitchell put-back.
Despite that lead, a 7-0 spurt in the third quarter and a 48-28 advantage at one point, the Lady Wolves would not walk through the second half.
"We did a good job getting ahead," Patterson said, "we just couldn't put them away."
Behind the play of seniors Jordan Goforth, Nkiru Udenze and junior Jasmine Caston, East made a run.
"We always seem to do a good job of fighting back," Morrow said. "And we showed more intensity tonight then we have the past couple days, so I'm satisfied by that aspect."
With Caston dishing out passes, Udenze dropping in a 3-pointer and a plethora of free throws and Goforth getting to the basket, the Lady Panthers amassed an 8-2 run and pulled to within 52-40. Caston had 10 points on the night with Udenze adding 12 points and seven rebounds, but it was Goforth that led the way with 21 points.
"Jordan gave it all she had tonight," Morrow said. "She left it all out on the floor and I'm happy with that, but we need the same thing from 100 percent of our girls."
East's push got no closer than 12 as an and-1 from West junior Randi Reinhardt, who had 13 points, made it 62-45 and sealed the game.
West senior Kiran Lakhian had six points and eight rebounds while East senior Paris Bridges notched nine points and six boards.
The Lady Wolves would go on to win, 75-62.
"There are still some spots where we need to clean things up and play a bit smarter," Patterson said, "but I think we can do that because we have a great bunch here that works hard and stays really focused."
Both teams move on to contests with playoff implications.
West hosts second-place Flower Mound Marcus at 6 p.m. Tuesday while East is on the road against Allen at the same time. The Lady Panthers, tied for third in 8-5A with Plano Senior, are one game ahead of Allen for the final playoff spot.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: Sports «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
