WOS 61 OF 43 Final/Friday

[KFDM COOP]

Lady Mustangs swat Orangefield

Gabe Pruett

The Orange Leader

WEST ORANGE — The West Orange-Stark Lady Mustangs got exactly what they needed Friday night.

A win over Orangefield and a Kirbyville loss to Silsbee.

First things first, the Lady Mustangs defeated rival Lady Bobcats 61-43 and then learned Silsbee won 76-71.

This breaks the tie for third place with Kirbyville with one game left to go. With the WO-S win, Silsbee is also now in sole possession of first place in the District 21-3A standings.

WO-S can lock up the third place spot Tuesday with a win at Bridge City. Kirbyville hosts Hamshire-Fannett, Silsbee travels to Jasper and Orangefield will celebrate senior night by welcoming Hardin-Jefferson.

The Lady Mustangs (19-8, 8-5) got another sensational performance from senior guard Brittney Scott who poured in a game-high 35 points on Senior Night at Mustang Gym.

While the Mustangs were hot, the Lady Bobcats (24-7, 11-2) shot 29-percent from the floor going 12-for-42.

“We needed this one,†WO-S Coach Callie Orebo said. “We knew Orangefield would come out and work hard so we needed to come out and work even harder.â€

Down 13-8 after the first period, the Lady Mustangs opened the second on a 12-0 run to take a 20-13 advantage.

Scott had two three-pointers in the run that saw Orangefield go ice cold from the field.

WO-S scored 20 points in the second frame while Orangefield could only muster up four free throws.

“Bottom line is that West Orange played a good ball game,†Orangefield Coach Sondra Ancelot said. “I will not take anything away from them but our kids did not seem to be very focused. If you look at playing in halves, right now we have played one good half of basketball in the last four. Heading into the playoffs, that is unacceptable.â€

Ancelot was referring to Tuesday night’s 71-45 win over Hamshire-Fannett. The Lady Bobcats were only up 30-29 after the first half.

After the break, the Lady Bobcats clawed their way back to within seven at 28-21 behind shots from Laura Riddick and Kaylin Little, who had a team high 12 points to go with three steals and two assists.

After a Scott jumper, Kia Hartfield drained a three-bomb making it 33-21 in favor of the Lady Mustangs.

Little answered with a three of her own but then WO-S was able to go on a 6-0 run pushing the lead up to 39-24.

Orangefield then hit six straight free throws, four from Riddick and two from Jessica Shores, to climb back to within 39-30.

A Scott freebie gave WO-S a 10-point cushion heading into the decisive fourth period.

The Lady Mustangs went 10-for-12 at the free throw line in the fourth while Orangefield was just 4-for-10 and could not make up any ground.

Scott had 14 points in the closing period and Orangefield had 10 of their 26 turnovers in the game’s final eight minutes.

“This was a game we had to have,†Scott said. “We knew we needed to win to get into the playoffs and we knew they would not give it to us since they wanted first in the district. We haven’t won a big game in district this season so it feels nice to finally get a key win at the right time.â€

Orangefield Kristy Sanders was not her usual-self with eight points, five rebounds and just two assists and one steal.

Riddick added nine points and five rebounds for the Lady Bobcats.

“I think fatigue has finally caught up to us,†Ancelot said. “The good news is we only have one game next week. There will be a lot of time for rest but also a lot of time for some hard practicing.â€

[scoobydoo]

It is never good when you have to play WO-S at their house on senior night after they have had a subpar game. WO-S only beat Jasper by 24, well under the 60 points that OF and Silsbee beat them by. That is not typical of WO-S and anyone could have told you that not playing the way they are capable of combined with a must win situation equals trouble for their opponent. When you add the fact that OF had a very cold shooting night, the outcome is not surprising. No great team can play great every night. There will come the inevitable crappy game. That happened to OF against WO-S, one of the worst opponents you can play bad against cause they will make you pay. There were two positives that came out of last nights game. One, another Orange County team will represent 21-3A in the playoffs. Two, OF has their crappy game out of the way and can now get back to what they normally do...win! Good luck to both the OF and WO-S teams in the playoffs. You will represent us well.

[Cat22]

Good post.  If WOS plays like they did last night in the playoffs they will go a long way again.  This district is so tough.  You have to bring your A game everygame and if you don't you will get beat.  Every team in this district knows that.  There will be two very good teams sitting home come playoff time that would have made the playoffs in probably any other district in the state.  I look for the three teams that are in the playoffs to go far, with the possibility of two at the regional tournament.  Best of luck to all 21-3A playoff teams.

[stang4life]

Yeah, I'm sure they will.  I have never seen them play like that before.  I mean, WOS wanted this game,  really bad!  They came out ready to play.  I was a bit disappointed with their coach though.  After KK foulded out she raised her hand and then showed it to the crowd.  Not too classy.

Wow, you must have had really good seating!!!

I don't know whether Coach Orebo did that or not, but I would be willing to bet that she got caught up in the moment (if she did).  As far as not being classy...I can recall a when ancelot has not shown great class, so we don't want to go there.

This is a big game (every year) and it will continue to be.  You don't like to see anyone foul out, but if you are a team fighting to have a shot at post-season, then any thing that goes your way "excites" you (I say that loosely).  kk and sanders are hustlers and playmakers and orangefield may not be in 1st place, but they are going to the playoffs.  Hopefully, the Lady Mustangs will be joining them.