WAXAHACHIE
The Lady Indians limited Midlothian to just nine first-quarter points and never looked back while their offense clicked on all cylinders Tuesday night at George W. Solis Gymnasium in Waxahachie.
Waxahachie eventually ran away with a 21-point District 10-5A win, 67-46.
The Lady Indians improved to 16-7 on the season and 4-1 in District 10-5A with the win. Midlothian fell to 14-8 on the year and 3-2 in district action.
Waxahachie head girls’ basketball coach Lesli Priebe was quick to point back to the Lady Indians’ success in last weekend’s Duncanville-hosted tournament as the momentum-and-confidence boost that her girls needed.
“We had quality, and I mean great, opponents. I think that really helped us,” Priebe said. “[…] [Midlothian] has really balanced scoring. Nobody averages more than about 13 points, but nobody averages less than about eight in their starting unit. We talked about how we had to make sure that we take care of their two leading scorers but that we had to make sure that we shut everyone else down, as well. We played great team defense.”
She added, “We just have to continue to work on the things that have hurt us like boxing out, turnovers, offensive executions, and transition defense."
Sarah Bush led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Mya Williams scored 16 points. Cassidy Morgan added 12 points to her five rebounds, while Rayna Ross finished with eight points and a team-high seven boards.
Paris Gantt added five points, and Diamond Atchison had three.
Ross and Atchison led the Lady Indians with four assists, each.
As a team, Waxahachie finished 15-of-24 at the charity stripe and accounted for 25 second-chance points.
Senior shooting guard Tatum Sorrels led the Lady Panthers with 20 points, while both Kierra Middleton and Cristina Balderrama scored 10 points, respectively.
Mikaela McGuire chipped in four points, and Sarah Williams had two points to round out the Midlothian scoring.
The Lady Panthers finished the game 14-of-22 from the free throw line as a team.
“We kept it close, and I don’t think the final score dictates the game," Midlothian head girls' basketball coach Amy Tennison said. "We did keep it close for most of the game, but we just couldn’t get it over the hump. When we did make a run, they did have an answer, and we just couldn’t overcome that.”
Tennison added, "We have to get prepared. Obviously, we like playing quality competition because it is just going to continue to raise the level of play that we have ourselves and within our own program. We have to give them (Waxahachie) credit. They were ready to play, and I don’t think that I had my kids prepared enough to come over here in a cross-town rivalry game. The energy was completely different, and I take responsibility for that.”
UP NEXT
Midlothian returns to Panther Arena Tuesday, Jan. 9 to host Mansfield Lake Ridge, while Waxahachie travels to Mansfield Legacy.
As Priebe looked ahead to Tuesday, she said, "It was so disappointing to lose to Summit right before Christmas by two points. We know it is going to be tough every single game. But if we can keep playing like this, we will have a chance.”