The Aubrey Lady Chaparrals varsity basketball team earned their seventh win in a row, beating the Pilot Point Lady Cats 41-10 on Tuesday night.
The Lady Chaps relied on their defense to set the tone early in the contest, holding the Lady Cats’ offense to one made field goal in the first half and only allowing eight points in the second half.
“We played well, especially through the first three quarters,” said Nicole Black, Aubrey head girls basketball coach. “We’ve been focusing on maintaining intensity throughout the game, and we showed a little bit of our youth in the fourth quarter, but I was proud of how they came out right from the get-go. We talk about figuratively punching the other team in the mouth and never letting up, and we came out and did that tonight.”
Aubrey opened the matchup playing fullcourt press defense, forcing multiple turnovers and turning them into instant offense to jump out to an 18-2 lead in the first quarter.
The Lady Chaps’ offense cooled off in the second quarter, scoring seven points in the second quarter, but their defense continued to frustrate the Lady Cats, shutting them out and taking a 25-2 lead at the half.
Aubrey continued to pour on the points in the third quarter, extending their lead with a 14-4 run to take a 39-6 lead as the game entered the fourth quarter.
The Lady Chaps took their foot off the gas pedal in the final quarter but cruised to a 41-10 victory.
Senior guard Addy Cagle led the Lady Chaps with 15 points, followed by junior point guard Aniyah Davis, who scored 11 points.
Cagle said, “Orange has always been one of our least favorite colors,” after Aubrey’s win over former rival, Pilot Point, and cited the team’s preparation process for their performance.
“We learned some new offensive plays this week, [and] running those in practice helped a lot,” she said.
Senior post player Kenzie Temple said the win was extra special for the Lady Chaps.
“Knowing that we had the chance to get our tenth win was extra motivation for us,” she said.
“Our bench and fans were really loud, and that brought us together and helped us win this game.”
The Lady Chaps also took first place at the For the Love of the Game Tournament hosted at S&S Consolidated High School on Dec. 4-6, but Black said the team still has room to grow as they prepare for the start of district play.
“We’re going to have to continue to find more levels on defense,” she said. “We are playing a really good defensive scheme, but we can always be better and can always play cleaner and with more intensity. We fouled too much tonight, so we have to clean that up and continue doing the things that are working for us and not let the pressure of district get to us. We just have to keep the mindset that this is what we are going to do: go out and dictate the pace and play our game.”
The loss marks the Lady Cats’ seventh of the season, but Kennedy Stastny, Pilot Point head girls basketball coach, said she was encouraged with how her team played in the second half of their sixth game in five days.
“Going and playing good competition is preparing us for those quick turnarounds in district and helping us develop a next-play mentality,” she said. “… A lot of the 5A and 6A schools that were playing have a lot of height and deep benches, so we’re asking kids to play a lot of different positions, and I think that’s good for them to go out there and do that because we’re going to see some height and good basketball once we get into district.”
Pilot Point will return to the hardwood for a home matchup against the Ponder Lady Lions at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.
Aubrey was scheduled to play the Lindsay Knights on Thursday.
The results were not available by press time.
Lady Chaps forward Evelyn Retana is met at the rim by Lady Cats defender Alliyah Smith. Martin Edwards/ The Post-Signal
