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Archive 2002

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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Sports

Monday, November 25, 2002 

Eagles' defense shuts down VH for first victory

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer

It's been a while since the Pecos Eagles basketball team was on  the right end of a score like this one, and tonight, they'll try to do it  again while going on the road for the first time this year.

The Eagles, who have been on the wrong end of basketball scores in the low- and mid-20 in games over the past several seasons, were on the winning side Friday night against the Van Horn Eagles, as they held Van Horn to just four points in the first quarter and only five points in each of the final three quarters, to win by a 55-19 final score at the Pecos High School gym.

"I thought we did a great job on defense, although we still need to improve because we have a tough schedule from here on out," said Eagles' coach Joe Flores, after picking up his first varsity win. "We're going to face a lot quicker opponents, so we've got to get ready."

The Eagles will face another Class 2A team tonight, when they take on the Alpine Bucks in Alpine, starting with the junior varsity game at 6 p.m. and the varsity contest at 7:30 p.m.

Pecos used their size advantage at both ends of the court on Friday, giving Van Horn only one shot on the trips downcourt most times on defense, while coming up with a series of second-chance baskets on offense throughout the game. That helped offset both problems getting good open shots over the first 12 minutes of the game and problems for the second game in a row at the foul line, where Pecos was only 6-for-17 after going 8-for-17 in their season opener against Andrews.

"I think some of our problems are from just not touching the basketball a lot during offseason," Flores said. "Once we come along and get into better shape, I expect us to start shooting the ball much better."

Oscar Parada found an opening inside for the game's first lay-up, and Justin Lara scored on a rebound basket and was fouled by Michael Sanchez for a three-point play to give Pecos an early 5-0 lead. Lara would have another lay-up and Isaiah Armendariz would score off a rebound of a missed Jason Sanchez foul shot later in the quarter, which ended with Pecos ahead 13-4.

In the second period the Eagles did most of their scoring in the final 33½ minutes, beginning with a 3-point jumper by Armendariz that put Pecos ahead 20-6. Van Horn would have trouble handling the press during the closing minutes of the half, with Bino Barrneo scoring off a steal and lay-up and John Parent on a rebound basket off a steal, as the Eagles built a 29-9 halftime lead.

In the third period, only a buzzer 3-pointer by Van Horn's Chance Clark kept the visting Eagles from being held to a single basket in the period. Joey Ortega had six straight points, four off rebound chances, as the Eagles widened their lead to 45-14 going into the fourth quarter. In the final period, Pecos' Genaro Mendoza and Van Horn's J.B. Eagle traded 3-point jumpers and the rest of Eagles' Eagle teammate had a chance a couple of times in the closing minutes to break the 20-point barrier, but were unable to hit from the line or from inside.

The big lead allowed Flores to substitute freely, and no Pecos player scored more than Ortega's 12 points. Armendariz was the only other Eagle in double figures, with 10, while David Gomez led Van Horn with six.

The win lifted Pecos to 1-1 on the season going into tonight's game at Alpine, which is the final one for the Eagles before Thanksgiving. Pecos resumes play after that against a slightly higher-scoring team, Midland High, which was held under 100 points for the first time this season on Saturday by El Paso Bowie, but still pulled out a 59-45 victory.

Pecos' junior varsity lost their game to Van Horn on Friday, 54-47, while at Imperial the Eagles' ninth grade team was beaten by Buena Vista's varsity, 64-42. Ricky Barreno led the JV with 14 ponits and Lupito Bustamantes topped the freshman with 10.

VAN HORN (19)
Gonzalez 0 0-0 0; Eagle 2 0-0 4; Corralez 1 0-0 2;  Clark 1 1-2 4; Gomez 2 2-4 6; Campos 0 1-2 1; Sanchez 0  1-2 1; Jackson 0 0-1 0. Totals 6 5-11 19.

PECOS (55)
Sanchez 2 1-2 5; Parada 4 0-2 8; Barrera 0 0-0  0; Armendariz 4 1-3 10; Mendoza 1 0-0 3; Reyes 0 0-0  0; Barreno 2 0-0 4; Hinojos 0 0-0 0; Lara 4 1-1 9; Parent 2  1-3 5; Ortega 5 2-6 12; Lerma 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 6-17 55.

Van Horn      4      5           5          5     _    19
Pecos           13     16         16        10  _     55

Three-point goals: Van Horn 2 (Eagle, Clark), Pecos 2 (Aremendariz, Mendoza). Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Van Horn 12, Pecos 17.

Pecos' offense heats up after slow start in Van Horn

The weather was nice outside on Friday, but it took a little while for things to warm up in the Van Horn High School gym for both the host Eagles and the Pecos Eagles basketball teams.

Both teams struggled to put points on the board in the opening eight minutes of the game, and Van Horn didn't find the range until the fourth quarter, when they more than doubled their point total with a 17-point final period. But by then, the Eagles already had built up a 13-point lead and were able to score 21 points of their own over the final eight minutes, on the way to their first victory of the season, by a 50-33 final score.

"In the first half we kind of struggled. We weren't taking good shots or working the ball inside the way we were supposed to," said Eagles' coach Veronica Valenzuela, who added that her team also was having trouble running their full-court press on defense.

"We started off with the full-court man press in the first quarter, but they weren't doing what they were supposed to do," she said. "So we just pulled off of that and went into a zone defense and did a much better job. We actually got a couple of steals off anticipating their passes in the zone."

After trailing 7-6 after one period, the Eagles put in 12 points in the second period for an 18-14 halftime lead, and then outscored Van Horn 11-2 in the third period to widen their margin to 29-16. Then in the final period both teams got their offenses going, with the visiting Eagles spreading out their scoring while the host Eagle squad relied on Vivian Anchondo and Mandy Ortega for the bulk of their points.

"In the fourth quarter we were trying to run, and both of us ended up just going up and down the floor," Valenzuela said. No Pecos player scored in double-figures, but nine of the Eagles' 11 players had at least two points, while Anchondo and Ortega led all scorers with 14 and 11 points.

Tiana Terry's nine points led the Eagles, while Leslie Rodriguez and Danielle Garcia had eight points apiece for Pecos, which evened it's season record at 1-1 after an opening loss to Iraan last Tuesday.

The win also put Pecos halfway towards matching their two-victory total for all of the 2001-02 season. Both those wins came against Presidio, who the Eagles will host on Tuesday night in their 2002-03 home opener. It's the first of at least three games this season for the Eagles against the Blue Devils, who'll face Pecos twice in District 4-3A play during January.

Pecos also won Friday's junior varsity game by a 24-21 score, while over in Imperial, the Eagles' ninth graders were beaten by Buena Vista's varsity, 56-17. Alessandra Carrasco led the JV with 10 points, while scores were not available for the ninth graders. Valenzuela said both teams would be combined on Tuesday for Pecos' JV game against Presidio.

PECOS (50)
Rodriguez 4 0-0 8; Franco 0 0-0 0; Mendoza 1 2-6 4;  Arreguy 0 0-0 0; Herrera 3 1-2 7; Regelman 1 0-0 2; Martinez 2  1-2 6; V. Garcia 2 0-0 4; D. Garcia 4 0-0 8; Baez 1 0-0 2;  Terry 3 3-8 9. Totals 21 7-18 50.

VAN HORN (33)
Francco 0 0-0 0; Gomez 1 3-4 5; Anchondo 5 4-8 14;  Sigala 1 0-0 3; Clark 0 0-0 0; Ortega 4 2-2 11; Ornelas 0 0-0  0. Totals 11 9-14 33.

Pecos           6     12     11     21     _ 50
Van Horn      7       7       2     17     _ 33
Three-point goals: Pecos 1 (Martinez), Van Horn 2  (Sigala, Ortga). Fouled out: Van Horn, Anchondo, Ornelas.  Total fouls: Pecos 19, Van Horn 18.

Swimmers sweep Stockton in pre-holiday meet

The Pecos Eagles' swim team generally had slower times on Thursday, in their final pre-Thanksgiving swim meet, against the Fort Stockton Panthers. But that didn't stop both the boys and girls' teams from earning their second dual meet victories of the season over Fort Stockton.

Pecos' boys won by a 113-52 margin over Fort Stockton, and the girls posted a 108-30 win over the Prowlers at the Fort Stockton High School pool.

"The times were kind of slow. We didn't seem to be motivated," said Eagles' coach Terri Morse. "Some of them cut their times, but overall it was a slow meet for us. But I did see some good things from some people, which was encouraging."

The girls won all but their final individual race of the day, and swept all three relay races, though Morse did switch some swimmers around from their usual events. Placing first and second in their races were Ashley Horsburgh and Ashley Mendoza in the 200 yard freestyle; Susan Moore and Jessica Minjarez in the 200 yard medley; Catherine Minjarez and Betsy Lujan in the 50 yard freestyle; Kelsey Holt and Lindsey Shaw in the 100 yard butterfly; Catherine and Jessica Minjarez in the 100-yard freestyle; Mendoza and Amie Reynolds in the 500 freestyle; and Lauren Wein and Betsy Lujan in the 100-yard backstroke. Teddie Salcido was third in the that race, while in the 100-yard breaststroke, Fort Stockton's Ronny Stephens edged Rebecca Reynolds by .27 second for first place, while Ashley Carrasco finished third.

In the relays, the Eagles' 200 yard medley relay teams placed first, second and fourth, as did the 200-yard freestyle relay teams, while the 400 yard `A', `B' and `C' teams were the only teams entered in that event.

The boys didn't get as many 1-2 finishes as the girls did, but they did sweep all their events on Thursday. Max Key and Gary Garcia did claim the top two spots in the 200-yard freestyle, and Daniel Quintana and Paul Parker were first and second in the 200 medley, while Will Oglesby was first, Michael Juarez fifth and Roger Quintana sixth in the 50 freestyle; Matt Elliott was first and K.W. Winkles second in the 100 fly; Key was first, Parker third and Roger Quintana sixth in the 100 free; Oglesby was first and Daniel Quintana second in the 500 free; Garcia was first and Elliott third in the 100-yard backstroke; and Winkles was first and Grant fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Pecos had the only divers entered in the meet on Thursday, with Juarez taking first and Grant and Miguel Estrada tying for second, while in the relay events the Eagles' `A' 200-yard medley team was first and the `B' team third; the 400 freestyle `A' and `B' teams placed first and third, and the only 200-yard freestyle team also won their race over the Panthers.

Pecos' next meet after Thanksgiving also will be in Fort Stockton, for the Coker Invitational on Dec. 6-7. Morse said five teams from El Paso would be entered in the meet, along with the Eagles' District 3-4A rivals from the area.



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