Sometimes when athletic teams stumble into a deep chasim — primarily of their own making — the challenge to escape is just too much to accomplish.
So it was Tuesday night at Eagle Gym as the Georgetown Lady Eagles dug themselves a 20-3 deficit in the initial 11 minutes and 28 seconds of their key District 19-5A with Rouse. The 45-41 loss left the two teams deadlocked for second place at 5-1, one-game behind Cedar Park. However, Rouse now owns the head-to-head tie-breaker over GHS.
At times, it seemed that the visting Raiders were threatening to chase the hosts off their own hardwoods behind Ashley Thompson and Ashley Onyango as Georgetown fell victim to timidly passing up open shots, turning the ball over and basically being non-competitive on the needed level.
“I was very disappointed in the way we started,” GHS coach Rhonda Farney said. “We didn’t rebound well and we let them take it to us. We didn’t appear to be all in at the start of the game. They were more physical than we were and they used their inside game. We should never have been in that situation.”
Consensus of the GHS coaching staff was unanimous. If the Lady Eagles would have played a representative game early, they probably would have won the game. After the 20-3 start, the Lady Eagles outscored the Lady Raiders, 38-25, as the rallied behind the leadership and fearless inside play of sophomore forward McCall Hampton.
The Contests was the final district start for Georgetown until it returns from the Christmas break on Wednesday, Jan. 3, when the face front-running Cedar Park (15-5) at 6:30 p.m. on the Timberwolves court. The Lady Eagles will complete the first round of the 16-game 19-5A schedule at home when they play Bastrop Cedar Creek at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 6.
During the 15-day break in the district schedule, the Lady Eagles will travel to Holden and Albany, La., for four games on Wednesday and Thursday, in a showcase-style tournament. In a re-adjusted schedule, GHS will play Sulphur at noonand Holden High School at 3 p.m. in Holden on Wednesday. Thursday’s schedule in Albany will send the Lady Eagles against Denham Springs at noon and Scotlandville at 3 p.m.
With 3:42 remaining in the second quarter, junior Jaelyn Knight made her only basket of the game to break the Raiders’ hold on the scoreboard. Three pointers by senior Maddie Vickers and Josie Weirich cut Rouse’s edge to 22-11 at the half. Georgetown’s only basket in the opening 11-plus minutes was a 3-pointer by junior Ali Isbell that made the score 7-3 with 3:35 remaining in the opening quarter.
“We made some shots and started playing inside,” Farney answered when asked what jump-started the dormant offense.
With Hampton scoring seven of her team-high 12 points, a 3-pointer by Vickers and a pair of free throws by Isbell, GHS cut the Rouse lead three rtimes in a third quarter that ended with the Raiders on top by nine at 33-24.
After GHS opened the final period with a trey by Weirich that cut the lead to 6 at 33-27, Rouse bounced the lead to 10 on a pair of buckets by Onyango. The Raiders’ lead bounced between nine to five points before a three-pointer by Isbell with 1:27 to go cut the lead to 42-38. Another 3 — this time by sophomore Kylee Etheridge — sliced the lead to 43-41 with 51 seconds to plasy.
For an instant the Lady Eagles appeared to be in position to take the lead with 15 seconds to go when Knight launched a 3-point attempt that did everything needed except complete the trip through the net. That miss that jumped out of the cylinder and a turnover put Rouse’s Taylor Douthitt in position to hit the game-winning free throws with slightly less than three seconds remaining.
Georgetown finished the game making only 13 of 39 shots (33 percent), turned the ball over 16 times and was outrebounded 24-23. With the inside game failing to produce much of the evening, The Lady Eagles put up 24 3-point efforts, making seven. Sophomoire Jade Smith led GHS rebounders with seven and Hampton, who fouled out with 1:18 remaining in the fourth, added six. Isbell was the Lady Eagles’ No. 2 scorer with 10 points.
The GHS JV and Freshman Blue improved to 6-0 in district. The JV (17-1) withstood a strong Rouse comeback to prevail 37-34 with Kylee Sander scoring 11 points. The Freshman Blue (16-2) were dominant in a 36-15 win. Garci Harris had 10 points for the Blue. A game between the Freshman White (12-3) and the Jarrell freshmen was cancelled.
GEORGETOWN VS. REOUSE
At Eagle Gym, Tuesday, Dec. 19
VARSITY
ROUSE 45, GEORGETOWN 41
ROUSE (45) — Brittney Martin 0-2 0-2 0, Taylor Douthitt 2-5 2-2 8, Chloe Austin 0-3 0-0 0, Anna Armstrong 1-3 0-2 3, Emily Schaible 2-3 0-0 5, Zaiah Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Ashley Onyango 7-9 1-3 15, Kania Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Ashley Thompson 5-7 4-4 14. Totals: 17-33 7-13 45.
GHS (41) — Ali Isbell 2-4 4-5 10, Josie Weirich 2-10 1-2 7, Samari O”Brien 0-1 0-0 0, Kylie Ellsworth 1-4 1-2 4, Mackenzy Mouton 0-0 0-0 0, Jaelyn Knight 1-9 0-0 2, Maddie Vickers 2-3 0-0 6, Jade Smith 0-1 0-0 0, McCall Hampton 5-7 2-2 12. Totals: 13-39 8-11 41.
Halftime: Rouse, 22-11. 3-point shooting: RHS 4-14 (Martin 0-2, Douthitt 2-4, Austin 0-3, Armstrong 1-3, Schaible 1-1, Z. Jackson 0-1); GHS 7-24 Isbell 2-4, Weirich 2-10, O’Brien 0-1, Ellsworth 1-3, Knight 0-3, Vickers 2-2, Hampton 0-1). Rebounds: RHS 24, GHS 23 (Smith 7, Hampton 6, Knight 4, Vickers 4). Assists: GHS 10 (Ellsworth 3, Vickers 2, Hampton 2). Steals: GHS 10 (Knight 3, Vickers 2, Hampton 2). Blocks: GHS 0. Turnovers: RHS 15, GHS 15. Total fouls: RHS 12, GHS 16. Fouled out: GHS, Hampton (fourth, 1:18). Technical fouls: none. Records: Rouse, 5-1 in 19-5A, 15-5; Georgetown, 5-1 in 19-5A, 12-6.
DISTRICT 19-5A RACE AT A GLANCE
Standings: Cedar Park, 6-0; Rouse, 5-1; Georgetown, 5-1; Pflugerville Connally, 4-2; Bastrop, 3-4; Hutto, 2-4; East View, 1-5; Elgin, 1-5; Bastrop Cedar Creek, 1-6.
Tuesday results: Rouse 45, Georgetown 41; Connally 61, East View 59; Bastrop 50, Hutto, 42; Cedar Park 74, Cedar Creek, 34. Bye: Elgin.
(Christmas break, Dec. 20-Jan. 2)
Wednesday (Jan. 3) games — Georgetown at Cedar Park, 6:30 p.m.; Hutto at East View, 7 p.m.; Connally at Rouse, 7 p.m.; Elgin at Bastrop, 7 p.m. Bye: Cedar Creek.
Saturday (Jan. 6) games — Cedar Creek at Georgetown, 12:30 p.m.; East View at Elgin, 12:30 p.m.; Cedar Park at Connally, 12:30 p.m.; Rouse at Hutto, 7:30 p.m. Bye: Bastrop.
SUB-VARSITY
(GHS scoring only)
GHS JV 37, ROUSE JV 34 — Kylee Sander 11, Hailey Hanson 2, Hailey Smith 9, Maya Perry 0, Mercedes Robledo 9, Kieana San Miguel 4, Alicia King 2. Halftime: GHS, 22-12. GHS record: 6-0 in 19-5A, 17-1.
GHS FRESHMAN BLUE 36, ROUSE FRESHMAN A 15 — Graci Harris 10, Reece Johnson 0, Jordayn Stout 3, Vyctorya Lehr 5, Grace Kearney 0, Megan Herring 4, Lauren Woodard 3, Cheyenne Garcia 2, Skylar Neugent 9. Halftime: GHS, 21-5. GHS record: 6-0 in 19-5A, 16-2.
GHS FRESHMAN WHITE VS. JARRELL FRESHMAN, cancelled.
Source: Lady Eagles Basketball
— By GALEN WELLNICKI