Pflugerville11-15-16
By GALEN WELLNICKI
State-ranked Class 6A Pflugerville bested Georgetown, 51-36, on Tuesday night on the Lady Panthers’ hardwoods to drop the Lady Eagles to 3-3 for the season. That was the story on the surface at a quick glance
However, Georgetown Coach Rhonda Farney saw several positives in a loss that was marred by an injury to senior point guard Brooke Elliott in the second minute of a game between the 8th-ranked 6A team and the 10th-ranked 5A squad.
“Our varsity continues to improve,” Farney said. “We were hurt early when Brooke was injured, but I was very pleased at how well (juniors) Josie Weirich and Maddie Vickers improved during the course of the game.
“(Dee) Day, (EJ) Jones, (Jaelyn) Knight, and (Emery) Herman outrebounded Pflugerville and the turnovers were virtually even. We are getting the shots that we want, but continue to rush our offense. Our defense is solid and holding good teams to low offensive output.”
Elliott hit the deck hard, striking the back if her head and neck, just seconds into the second minute of the contest. She returned to action late in the quarter and played the second quarter, scoring eight points and sharing high-team scoring honors with Day.
However, she was held out of action in the second half, sitting on the bench with an ice pack on the back of her neck. She is expected to miss at least a week of action.
The Lady Eagles trailed 15-10 after the first quarter and 28-17 at the half with 3-pointers by Brooke and Taylor Elliott accounting for six of Georgetown’s points in the second quarter. PHS outscored GHS 11-4 in the opening four and a half minutes of the quarter. The Lady Panthers led by 17 late in the third quarter and the Lady Eagles were unable to cut the margin to less than 11.
Pflugerville Britney Onyeje led all scorers with 21 points, including five 3-pointers. The Lady Panthers hit on 58 percent of their shots, while made only 31 percent of their 38 attempts. Georgetown did outrebound PHS, 28-17, with Knight and Herman having seven and six, respectively.
The GHS varsity has only one game remaining before the start of District 19-5A competition at Pflugerville Connally on Tuesday night, Nov. 29—two days before the start of the 38th Annual Jack Frost Tournament. That remaining early non-district test will be against Class 6A Killeen Ellison at 12:30 p.m. Monday at Eagle Gym. The JV game is set for 11am with freshman blue action beginning at 9:30am and freshman white at 10:45am.
Ellison stood 6-1 on the year through Tuesday night’s action with the lone loss being to Saginaw Boswell.
Farney was pleased with the showing of the sub-varsity teams against Pflugerville. The GHS Freshman Blue posted a 54-25 victory and the Freshman White won by a 32-8 count. The JV fell 43-32 and Pflugerville blew the game open by scoring the first 11 points of the fourth quarter after leading by only two points after three periods.
“I was very pleased with the play of both our freshmen teams,” Farney said. “Our freshman blue team is deep and extremely well-coached. Also, it was great to watch Coach Kevin Spruill in action. His freshman white team is improving on the fundamentals of the game every day.”
“The JV team has been riddled with injuries (two concussions and a hip flexor) and played with six players. They battled every minute of the game.”
Sophomore Jade Smith paced the GHS JV with 17 points, while Kristin Curtis’ Freshman Blue squad had four players with eight or more points—Mercedes Robled (11 points), McCall Hampton (10), Kylie Elsworth (9) and Maya Perry (8). Na’Kea Cook had 16 for the Freshman White.
GEORGETOWN AT PFLUGERVILLE
Varsity
PFLUGERVILLE 51, GEORGETOWN 36
GHS (36)—Brooke Elliott 2-5 3-6 8, Josie Weirich 0-5 0-0 0, Taylor Elliott 3-7 0-1 7, Jaelyn Knight 1-3 0-2 2, Maddie Vickers 2-5 2-2 6, Emery Herman 1-5 1-2 3, Dee Day 2-6 4-6 8, E.J. Jones 1-2 0-0 0. Totals: 12-38 10-19 35.
PHS (51)—Khiana Willis 1-3 0-0 2, Kayla Hanson 2-3 2-4 8, Kennedi Hodge 2-4 0-0 4, Britney Onyeje 7-12 2-2 21, Jasmin Gaskin 1-1 0-0 2, Jazmyn Stevens 2-2 0-0 4, Kiera King 0-1 0-1 0, London Clarkson 2-2 4-5 8, Samariae Bonds 1-3 2-5 4. Totals: 18-31 10-18 51.
Halftime score: PHS, 28-17. 3-point shooting: GHS 2-11 (Elliott 1-2, Weirich 0-2, T. Elliott 1-3, Vickers 0-2, Herman 0-2); PHS 5-10 (Hodge 0-1, Onyeje 5-8, King 0-1). Rebounds: 28 (Knight 7, Herman 6, T. Elliott 5, Day 4); PHS 17 (Bonds 8). Assists: GHS 9 (Herman 4, Weirich 2). Steals: GHS 5 (Vickers 2). Blocks: GHS 1 (Day). Turnovers: GHS 16, PHS 14. Total fouls: GHS 13, PHS 17. Fouled out: none. Records: Georgetown, 3-3; Pflugerville, 8-1.
Junior Varsity
(GHS scoring only)
PFLUGERVILLE 43, GEORGETOWN 32—Gracie Speer 6, Morgan Bruning 2, Ali Isbell 3, Samari O’Brien 2, Miranda Gil 2, Jade Smith 17. Halftime: GHS, 16-15: GHS Record: 0-2.
Freshman
(GHS scoring only)
GHS BLUE 54, PFLUGERVILLE A 25—Hailey Hanson 0, Hailey Smith 5, Maya Perry 8, Kylie Ellsworth 9, Mercedes Robledo 11, Keiana San Miguel 7, McCall Hampton 10, Mackenzy Mouton 4. Halftime: GHS, 25-9. GHS Record: 1-1.
GHS WHITE 32, PFLUGERVILLE B 8—Tatiana Williams 2, Na’Kela Cook 16, Celeste Valdez 0, Marney Hazell 0, SueEllen Albrecht 2, Rachel Heine 0, Keyla Perez 5, Madison Rincon 5 (Two points scored by Pflugerville player on wrong basket). Halftime: GHS, 17-4. GHS Record: 1-1.