OF 74 Jasper 42 Final

[Bobcatfan4life]

Final

[KFDM COOP]

Congrats

[24 over par]

great win of i thought it would be a little closer

[Guest bleed orange]

I was proud of the girls tonight. They did some good things. We still need to work on our turnovers. Jasper is much improved. Their coach is doing a good job over there.

[KFDM COOP]

OF slides past improved Jasper

Gabriel Pruett

The Orange Leader

ORANGEFIELD — Give the Jasper Lady Bulldogs a ton of credit for making significant strides since last year yet they still could not push the Orangefield Lady Bobcats too hard Tuesday night.

The Lady Bobcats improved to 2-0 in District 21-3A play in Bobcats Gym with a 74-42 victory.

An 11-0 run to start the second period opened up what was a close game throughout the first period and allowed the Lady Bobcats to stay on a collision course with Hardin-Jefferson for control of the district.

Those two teams do not play until Jan. 11, 2008 when the Lady Hawks visit the Lady Bobcats.

Tuesday the Lady Bobcats were led by senior Kaylin Little who put in a game-high 21 points to go with three steals and three assists with five rebounds.

Olivia Wagner continued her stellar play with 18 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists. Senior Laura Riddick added eight steals, nine points, five rebounds and four assists.

“This was certainly a balanced team effort,†Orangefield Coach Chris Jost said. “We made all the plays on defense and everyone scored. Laura was all over the place on defense and had several assists.â€

Jasper was led by Shelethia Middleton who had 16 points while Breeunna Hafford had 10 points.

Jasper (0-2) hung around with Orangefield during the first half and led 9-6 late in the game’s first eight minutes after a bucket by Courtney Baker. Baker would finish the game with eight points.

Little then completed a three-point play for the Lady Bobcats and Jessica Weldon, who had 11 points, added a bucket to make it 11-9 Orangefield. Weldon also had four steals, three assists and seven rebounds.

Baker then ripped a three-pointer giving Jasper a 12-11 edge before Wagner finished the period’s scoring with a trey of her own as Orangefield led 14-12 heading into the second.

The second period started off all Orangefield as Jasper did not score a point until there was just 4:40 left on the clock.

By that time the Lady Bobcats were up 25-12.

Later in the period Orangefield finished off the second on a 12-0 run to lead 39-19.

Even though Jost, who is in his first year at Orangefield, did not see Jasper last season he was still impressed with the improvement.

“Jasper is much improved,†Jost said. “At the same time, we were still able to come out and do a lot of the things we wanted to do. The Lady Bulldogs have made a lot of progress because putting up 42 this year is a lot better than the 19 a year ago.â€

Orangefield continued to build on its lead in the third by outscoring the visitors 19-9 after the break.

Weldon scored seven in the frame while Wagner hit for six points.

The Lady Bobcats then forced seven of their 37 turnovers in the fourth and took home the victory.

Allie Beach had eight points and eight rebounds in the game while Aimee Scales added nine rebounds. Shelby Poole had a nice game off the bench, especially on defense, with four steals and three points.

“I am pretty pleased with our games in district,†Jost said. “Tonight’s game they gave great effort and I thought in the first half we got after it then we finished the game off. We caused a lot of problems for Jasper on both ends. The biggest thing now is we have a week to rest up and polish up on some things.â€

Orangefield returns to action Tuesday with a road game in Kirbyville.