The Aubrey Lady Chaps varsity basketball team secured their fifth district win and second win in a row with a 53-11 home win over the Gainesville Lady Leopards on Jan. 22.
The matchup was played a day in advance of its originally scheduled date to avoid the impending winter storm, but the Lady Chaps put their opponents on ice before the weather could, skating out to a doubledigit lead and never looking back.
“We finally came out and played well against Gainesville,” said Nicole Black, Aubrey head girls basketball coach. “We’ve beaten Gainesville since I've been here, but we never really felt like we played well, and tonight we finally came out and decided we're going to beat somebody the way that we need to beat them. Our new addition, [Jaeda Wade], and the team enveloping her as well as they did played a big part, and I'm very proud of the energy that the bench brought.”
The Lady Chaps shot out of the gate as soon as they hit the hardwood, outscoring the Lady Leopards 15-1 in the game’s opening quarter.
Aubrey continued to pour on the points in the second quarter, with a 12-3 scoring run to send the two teams into the half with the Lady Chaps up 27-4.
The Lady Chaps kept rolling in the second half, with a 19-2 run in the third quarter, taking a 46-6 lead as the game entered the fourth and final period of regulation.
Aubrey eased off the gas pedal in the fourth quarter and still outscored Gainesville 7-5 to take the win 5311.
The Lady Chaps’ newest addition, Wade, led Aubrey with 16 points, followed by Addie Cagle and Pa’i Fualema, who scored 10 points and 6 points, respectively.
“My first day I was a little nervous because I didn't really know what my role was going to be fitting in with this team, but I knew I wanted to help out in every way I could, so being able to help on the offensive and defensive ends was really great, and everybody has been very welcoming,” Wade said.
Fualema highlighted the Lady Chaps’ chemistry and how it is showing up on the floor for the team.
“Before district games we have team dinners, and we just goof around,” she said. “We make basketball jokes, which help us click, and then we'll bring all that energy on the court.”
The win puts Aubrey in fourth place in their district, one game behind third-place Van Alstyne and one game ahead of fifth-place Sanger, and Black said the Lady Chaps are focused on punching their ticket for the postseason.
“Our biggest thing is getting there,” she said. “… Once we do that, we genuinely feel like we have a chance to at least see the second round, or maybe even the third, depending on which ranking we go in, but our path in the playoffs after the first round is not going to be easy. We're aware of that, so we're just going to keep working and building on what we’ve done so far so that our seniors can leave their legacy and the underclassmen know what it's like to be there and know what it's like to try to go make a run because 4A is going to look a lot different for us next year.”
The Lady Chaps’ next matchup is a rematch with Sanger scheduled at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Aubrey.
The results were not available by press time.
Lady Chaps forward Evelyn Retana goes up for a shot during Aubrey’s 5311 win over the Gainesville Lady Leopards on Jan. 22. Martin Edwards/The Post-Signal
