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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Wednesday, January 23, 2002
Pecos girls shut out in fourth quarter by Clint
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
Holding a team without a basket for 13½ minutes is a pretty
good achievement … unless the other team holds you without a point for
an entire quarter.
The Pecos Eagles did the first thing Tuesday night against the Clint
Lions, holding Clint without a field goal from the final 90 seconds of
the first half until there were less than 3½ minutes left in their
game at the Pecos High School gym. That allowed the Eagles to cut a 14
point lead by the Lions down to five as the fourth period started, but
in the final period Pecos was shut out by Clint, which allowed the Lions
to pull away again in the closing minutes for a 43-28 victory in the second
half District 2-4A opener for both girls teams.
"I tried four different offenses in the fourth quarter," said Eagles'
coach Veronica Valenzuela. "I tried to find something we could execute,
but we didn't."
"We're down by five with 6:18 left in the fourth quarter and we're acting
like there's only one minute to go and panicking, dribbling with our heads
down and throwing the ball away," she said. "We've just got to learn to
keep our composure."
The Eagles had their chances to score, but several times either came
up short on lay-ups, or banged shots hard off the backboard from close-in
range. Clint's shooting touch wasn't as off on their misses, but after
a hot second quarter when they outscored Pecos at one stretch by an 18-9
margin, the Lions were held to only four free throws over that 13 ½
minute span, after a Selena Moreno lay-up gave them a 29-15 lead.
"We did a better job with our zone in the third quarter, but we didn't
take advantage," Valenzuela said.
A rebound lay-up by Christina Arenivas and a length-of-the-floor drive
and three-point play by the senior with only three-tenths of a second left
in the half cut Clint's lead back to 29-20, and the Eagles then outscored
the Lions 8-4 in the third period, as posts Tiana Terry and Leslie Rodriguez
both had a pair of baskets. But Rodriguez' foul line jumper with 11 seconds
left in the quarter turned out to be the Eagles' final points of the night.
Clint's Alba Espinoza and Marissa Arnold had led the Lions to their
14-point first half lead. But both were held to only one free throw in
the third period. Espinoza and Moreno added foul shots with about 2 ½
minutes gone in the fourth period to give Clint a 35-28 lead, and Arnold
finally broke the field goal drought with a side bank shot while being
fouled by Arenivas at the 3:26 mark.
Pecos would miss three more chances to score before the Lions got their
final six points in the closing minute, four of foul shots by Arnold, who
had a pair of 3-point jumpers in the first half and led all scorers with
18 points. The first came in the opening period and put Clint ahead to
stay, at 7-4, after the Eagles had tied the score on a pair of baskets
by Rodriguez, who led Pecos in scoring with 10 points.
Espinoza then had a steal and lay-up to make it a 9-4 game, and scored
eight of her 12 points in the second period, when Clint built up their
double-digit lead after 3-pointers by Arnold and Karina Cardona.
Clint's win kept them tied for first in the district standings with
Canutillo, which defeated Fabens on Tuesday 53-47. Both teams are 5-1 in
2-4A play Pecos, meanwhile, fell to 0-6 in district and play their final
road game of the season on Friday night, against the Wildcats in Fabens.
CLINT (43)
Moreno 1 1-2 3; Cardona 2 2-2 7; Wagner 0 0-0 0; A. Espinoza 5 2-4
12; Arnold 4 8-11 18; Almanza 1 1-3 3; Miller 0 0-0 0; R. Espinoza 0 0-0
0. Totals 13 14-22 43.
PECOS (28)
Arenivas 2 1-1 5; J. Rodriguez 2 0-2 4; Ornelas 0 0-0 0; Herrera 1
1-1 3; Martinez 0 0-0 0; Wein 0 0-0 0; L. Rodriguez 5 0-1 10; Terry 2 0-0
4; Garcia 1 0-1 2. Totals 13 2-6 28.
Clint 9 20 4 10 - 43
Pecos 4 16 8 0 - 28
Three-point goals: Clint 3 (Arnold 2, Cardona). Fouled out: None. Total
fouls: Clint 16, Pecos 19.
Second half problems do in Eagles again, 52-43
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagles had one hot shooter in the first half of their game
with the Clint Lions Tuesday night, and that was enough to keep the Eagles
close to Clint going into the third period of their District 2-4A home
opener.
But when Richard Rodriguez cooled off in the final two periods, no other
Pecos player was able to take up the scoring slack, and for the second
game in a row, the Eagles watched a district opponent pull away in the
final periods.
Clint used a hot shooting start to the third period to turn a 23-22
halftime lead into a 42-30 advantage by the time the quarter was over,
and went on to defeat Pecos by a 52-43 final score.
"I can't make any excuses. We've got to get the job done," said Eagles'
coach Tino Acosta. "It's not a lack of effort, it's a lack of execution.
Until we start doing that, we're not going to get any better.
Rodriguez had 18 of Pecos' 22 first half points, including four 3-point
jumpers, which offset three 3-pointers in the first half by Kit Bramblett,
who wound up with four on the night and 14 points. But in the second half,
Rodriguez' outside shots failed to fall, and he managed just one third
period lay-up, around a pair of baskets by Isaiah Armendariz.
Meanwhile, Clint connected on six of their first seven shots in the
third period, including a fast-break dunk by Filberto Torres. Clint's other
6-foot-6 post, Clayton Webb, would try his own dunk attempt a few moments
later, but by slowing down allowed himself to be taken out by Rodriguez.
However, he shook off his rough landing on the floor to sink a pair of
foul shots, giving Clint an 11-point lead, and the Lions would go up by
12 to close the quarter on a buzzer basket by Fernie Lizola, who led Clint
with 17 points.
The Eagles did half that lead as the final period opened, as baskets
by John Parent and Armendariz cut Clint's lead to 42-36. But Bramblett
and Lizola then followed with jumpers of their own, and the Eagles spent
the final five minutes of the game matching points with the Lions, and
missing a couple of chances to get the margin back down to six points.
Tuesday's second half for Pecos was better than their second half last
Friday, when San Elizario turned a one-point lead into a 53-26 win, but
the loss still left Pecos with an 0-4 district mark, while Clint improved
to 3-1 and is tied for first with Fabens and San Elizario in the District
2-4A standings.
"I've talked to the officials and to all the other coaches and they
say how much better we're getting, but we just don't show it on the scoreboard,
said Acosta, whose team will go back on the road Friday night to close
out the first half of their 2-4A schedule at Fabens.
Clint also won Tuesday's freshman and junior varsity games, taking the
JV contest 37-29 and winning the freshman game, 42-30.
CLINT (52)
Granado 1 0-0 2; Hickman 1 3-4 5; Bramblett 5 0-1 14; Carpio 0 0-0
0; Ruiz 0 0-0 0; Torres 3 0-0 6; Webb 2 3-7 7; Lizola 7 3-3 17; Chavez
0 1-2 1. Totals 19 10-17 52.
PECOS (43)
Sanchez 0 1-2 1; Plummer 0 0-0 0; Barreno 2 1-1 5; Aremendariz 5 0-1
10; Rodriguez 7 2-2 20; Parent 1 1-2 3; Parada 0 0-0 0; Ortega 1 2-4 4;
Mora 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 7-12 43.
Clint 10 13 19 10 - 52
Pecos 12 10 8 13 - 43
Three-point goals: Clint 4 (Bramblett 4), Pecos 4 (Rodriguez 4). Fouled
out: None. Total fouls: Clint 16, Pecos 17.
Eagles tennis team opening Spring season
The Pecos Eagles don't have a tennis court yet, but they do have a Spring
tennis season opening up on Saturday, with a dual meet in Monahans against
the Loboes and Brownfield Cubs.
Pecos' varsity tennis team is awaiting final work on the new Pecos High
School tennis courts, which are in the process of being replaced right
now. Concrete was poured in December and coach Mike Ortiz said surfacing
of the six courts is scheduled to be completed by Feb. 15, when Pecos will
open the new courts by hosting their own tournament.
"We're going to have a special ceremony before the start of the tournament,"
said Ortiz, whose team will use the courts three more times during the
spring season, including the District 2-4A Tournament on April 5-6.
Pecos was scheduled to host this past October's district team tennis
tourney, but it was moved to San Elizario due to the cracking in the court's
old surface. The new courts will rest on about nine inches of new concrete,
and along with the painting of the courts the fences surrounding the courts
will have to be repaired before Feb. 15.
Right now, the Eagles are practicing on the Crockett Middle School tennis
courts, and will play their first three matches of the Spring season on
the road. Along with Saturday's 10 a.m. start against Monahans and Brownfield,
the Eagles will go to Crane on Feb. 2 and back to Monahans on Feb. 5 before
hosting their own tournament.
Pecos' junior high teams will actually get to play more matches on the
high school's new courts this spring than the varsity squad will. Four
dual meets and one tournament are planned for the PHS courts, beginning
on Feb. 26 against Wink. The junior high season opens on Feb. 12 in Monahans
and closes with an April 13 tournament in Fort Stockton.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail newsdesk@nwol.net
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Copyright 2002 by Pecos Enterprise
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