It was busy evening at Eagle Gym Friday night — interesting, entertaining and in at least one instance extremely unusual. For example:
* The Georgetown Lady Eagles mugged Elgin, 62-25, to move within a victory over Bastrop on the Bears’ court Tuesday night of clinching one of District 19-5A’s four playoff.
* The GHS program honored its 2002-2003 team that reached the Class 5A state finals. Nine members of that 33-6 team that lost to Duncanville in the state championship game were on hand.
* The Lady Eagles celebrated Senior Night following their fourth consecutive district victory as they honorerd guards Josie Weirich and Maddie Vickers and post Emili Harris.
* Coach Kristin Curtis Freshman Blue team pitched an extremely rare shutout, blanking the Elgin freshman squad 47-0 to remain unbeaten in 19-5A competition with an 11-0 record.
* However, on the down side, it was learned that team rebounding leader and consistant spark off the bench McCall Hampton, a 5-foot-10 sophomore, would be lost for the remainder of the seasson with a knee injury sustained early in Wednesday night’s win at Hutto.
* The aforementioned Ms. Harris returned to the fold after missing the first 26 games of the season with a leg injury and celebrated her debut by scoring the Lady Eagles’ final two points at the buzzer and grabbing two rebounds.
The victory improved the Lady Eagles’ 19-5A record to 9-2 with five district games remaining. Tuesday’s 7 p.m. match with Bastrop will pair them with the fifth-place Bears, who are 5-7 in district. A win by GHS would put them five games-up in the win column with Bastrop having just three contests remaining on their schedule.
GHS bested short-handed Bastrop, 68-8, at Eagle Gym on Dec. 12, but the Bears were missing three key performers at that time because of illness.
After playing Bastrop on the road, the Lady Eagles will return home to face East View at 7:30 p.m. Friday in a boys-girls varsity twinbill at Eagle Gym. East View was 3-8 going into its Tuesday battle with Bastrop Cedar Creek, which shares eighth-place in the nine-team alignment with Elgin after losing 58-38 to arch-rival Bastrop this past Friday.
GHS coach Rhonda Farney, who must adjust her rotations to replace Hampton, was pleased with the Lady Eagles’ effort against Elgin, a team it mastered by s combined score of 127-42 in the season’s two meetings.
“Josie got us off to a good start (with two 3-pointers in the first one minute and 10 seconds) and Maddie had her best offensive game of the season (17 points and 10 rebounds, both game highs),” Farney said.
Defensively, the Lady Eagles held their 12th opponent to 31-or-fewer points and limited the oppositions’ high scorer to single digits for the 10th time. The visiting Wildcats made just nine of their 51 shots (17 percent), including zero of 15 from beyond the arc. Georgetown also claimed a 39-17 edge on the boards.
The Lady Eagles took control early as they built a 22-2 lead over the initial 10:27 of the game. Elgin’s only points in the span came on a field goal by Alexia Hernandez with fours seconds left in the first quarter. GHS was up 31-7 at the half and 51-19 after three periods.
Georgetown got nearly half its points on 3-pointers with 10 success from long range. Junior forward Jaelyn Knight was the Lady Eagles’ No. 2 scorer and rebounder with 14 points and eight boards. Sophomore guard Kylee Elsworth added eight points and a team-high four assists, while junior guard Samari O’Brien had seven points and seven rebounds.
Elgin had to finish the game under the direction of an assistant coach after head coach Mairon Koehler became ill in the seond half.
“I was nice to visit with some of the ladies from the 2002-2003 team and recognizing their accomplishments at halftime along with having the traditional ceremony with our three seniors after the game,” Farney said.
The Freshmen Blue jumped to a 30-0 halftime advantage in the shutout victory. Guard Graci Harris led the Lady Eagles with 17 points and Jordayn Stout added 12.
The GHS JV took a 55-18 victory to improve to 10-1 in 19-5A action, and like the Freshman Blue are 22-2 for the season. The JV put four players in dobule figures with Mercedes Robledo scoring 15 and Kylee Sander, Hailey Hanson and Hailey Smith adding totals of 12, 11 and 10, respectively.
The Freshman White survived a near-disastorous second-half lull after building a 22-5 lead to beat the Jarrell Freshmen, 24-17, and improve its season record to 13-3. Reece Johnson paced GHS with eight points.
GEORGETOWN VS. ELGIN
At Eagle Gym, Friday, Jan. 19
VARSITY
GEORGETOWN 62, ELGIN 25
ELGIN (25) — Alexia Hernandez 2-2 0-0 4, Mariah Bailey 0-2 0-0 0, Alyssa Randall 1-3 1-2 3, Shanice Ross 0-3 0-0 0, Kate Nelson 0-0 0-0 0, Atyanna Freeman 3-19 2-6 8, Jessica Navejas 1-2 0-0 2, Andrenique Roberson 0-10 2-7 2, Bri Aguirre 2-9 2-2 6, Zaria Bledsoe 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 9-51 7-17 25.
GHS (62) — Ali Isbell 1-3 0-0 3, Josie Weirich 2-6 0-0 6, Samari O’Brien 3-6 0-0 7, Kylie Ellsworth 3-7 0-0 8, Mackenzy Mouton 1-3 3-4 5, Jaelyn Knight 4-14 5-6 14, Maddie Vickers 6-12 2-2 17, Emili Harris 1-2 0-0 2, Jade Smith 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 21-56 10-12 62.
Halftime: GHS, 31-7. 3-point shooting: EHS 0-15 (Ross 0-1, Freeman 0-8, Roberson 0-2, Aguirre 0-4); GHS 10-28 (Isbell 1-3, Weirich 2-6, O’Brien 1-4, Ellsworth 2-4, Knight 1-2, Vickers 3-9). Rebounds: EHS 17 (Roberson 4); GHS 39 (Vickers 10, Knight 8, O’Brien 7, Mouton 4, Smith 4). Assists: GHDS 14 (Ellsworth 4, Weirich 3, Smith 3). Steals: GHS 13 (Smith 4, Vickers 3). Blocks: GHS 1 (Smith). Turnovers: GHS 12. Total fouls: EHS 11, GHS 13. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none. Records: Elgin, 2-10 in 19-5A, 5-21; Georgetown, 9-2 in 19-5A, 19-8.
DISTRICT 19-5A RACE AT A GLANCE
(Through games of Jan. 19)
Standings: x-Cedar Park, 12-0; x-Rouse, 10-1; Georgetown, 9-2; Pflugerville Connally, 6-5; Bastrop, 5-7; East View, 3-8; Hutto, 3-9; Elgin, 2-10; Bastrop Cedar Creek, 2-10.
x — clinched playoff berth.
Friday’s results — Georgetown 62, Elgin 25; Cedar Park 54, East View 29; Connally 53, Hutto 43; Bastrop 58, Cedar Creek 38. Bye: Rouse.
Tuesday’s games — Georgetown at Bastrop, 7 p.m.; Cedar Park at Rouse, 7 p.m.; Connally at Elgin, 7 p.m.; Cedar Creek at East View. Bye: Elgin.
Friday’s games — East View at Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. (doubleheader with boys); Bastrop at Connally, 7 p.m.; Rouse at Cedar Creek, 7 p.m.; Elgin at Hutto, 7 p.m. Bye: Cedar Park.
SUB-VARSITY GAMES
(GHS scoring only)
GHS JV 55, ELGIN 18 — Kylee Sander 12, Hailey Hanson 11, Hailey Smith 10, Maya Perry 5, Mercedes Robledo 15, SueEllen Albrecht 0, Alicia King 2. Halftime: GHS, 24-7. GHS record: 10-1 in 19-5A, 22-2.
GHS FRESHMAN BLUE 47, ELGIN FRESHMAN 0 — Meagan Wolfe 6, Graci Harris 17, Jordayn Stout 12, Vyctorya Lehr 2, Grace Kearney 1, Megan Herring 4, Lauren Woodard 1, Skylar Neugent 4. Halftime: GHS, 30-0. GHS record: 11-0 in 19-5A, 22-2.
GHS FRESHMAN WHITE 24, JARRELL FRESHMAN 17 — Natalie Hutchens 2, Reece Johnson 8, Lizette Rodriguez 0, McKenna Jansen 2, Cheyenne Garcia 6, Abigail Salinas 0, Leia Crissman 2, Maddie LaCour 4. Halftime: GHS 22-5. GHS record: 13-3.
Source: Lady Eagle Basketball.
— By GALEN WELLNICKI