OF, HCYA set for Lady Cats Tourney final/OF Wins!

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OF, HCYA set for Lady Cats Tourney final

Gabriel Pruett

The Orange Leader

ORANGEFIELD — It sure was not pretty, yet Orangefield Coach Chris Jost will take it.

The Lady Bobcats were uncharacteristically sloppy Friday evening against the Huffman Lady Falcons and still found a way to win, 72-52.

The Lady Bobcats will now face HCYA at 3 p.m. for the championship. Orangefield will be looking to regain the title after missing out last season.

In earlier action, HCYA defeated Port Neches-Groves 45-43 and then HCYA took down Vidor, 59-42.

Vidor and Buna will square off at 9 a.m. while PN-G and Huffman will play for third place at noon Saturday.

Orangefield (9-2) turned the ball over 24 times against Huffman (6-5) and needed a 29-point fourth period to pull away.

Marissa Wyatt got hot in the fourth period by draining a three-pointer and then converting on a four-point play. Wyatt scored nine of her 14 points in the fourth.

Orangefield held a slim 43-40 leading heading into the fourth after being outscored 23-13 in the third.

Huffman’s Lauren Kinney scored 11 of her 15 points in the third as the Lady Falcons erased a 30-17 half-time deficit.

Orangefield did a nice job cutting down on the mistakes in the fourth period to finish off the win.

The Lady Bobcats had 21 turnovers heading into the fourth yet limited the mistakes to three turnovers in the game’s final eight minutes.

The added possessions proved to be the difference as Allie Beach scored six of her 21 points in the fourth. Beach also had nine boards and a block in the game.

Olivia Wagner added eight in the final frame and finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists. Jessica Weldon added seven assists and five steals while Kasidy Hayes finished with nine rebounds in the victory.

Lauren Kinney of Huffman led all scorers with 22 points.

Orangefield’s defense continued to force mistakes as Huffman turned the ball over 35 times.

Both teams got off to a slow start as Orangefield outscored Huffman 13-7 to start the contest.

The Lady Bobcats hit a solid streak midway through the second as Beach and Wagner started to get hot.

Beach had eight points in the period and Wagner added six.

Orangefield held a 30-17 lead at the break.

PN-G 45, HCYA 43

PN-G narrowly defeated HCYA 45-43 despite the fact HCYA was down to four players on the court.

An injury left HCYA with five players on the roster and while facing the Lady Indians another fouled out.

PN-G outscored HCYA 11-6 in the final frame to claim the victory.

Shay Dickens scored 12 points for the Lady Indians while Sam Lunceford added six.

Alison Irving finished with 17 points for HCYA and Rachel Decker added 16 points in the loss.

HCYA 59, Vidor 42

HCYA reached the championship game on point-differential with a 59-42 defeat against the Vidor Lady Pirates.

This time all five HCYA players remained on the court the entire game and they were able to get the job done.

Irving scored 23 points in the contest while Decker added 12.

Vidor was paced by the 21 points from Smith.

HCYA led 32-25 at the break.

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OF wins 68-32

[Guest wos grad]

Source kogt

[Bobcat1]

Olivia Wagner got MVP

Allie Beach and Marissa Wyatt got All Tournament!

[CoachKfan]

Who is HCYA?

[Guest bleed orange]

Who is HCYA?

I am not sure about this but I think they are Home School Christian Youth Association.

[HillGuy]

Not sure of the acronym either, but visited with the coach of HCYA South at Lovelady.  Very nice guy.  Said generally they practice three times a week or so.  They are very dedicated ball players.  There was a article in the Chronicle back in Jan 2007:

Home-school athletes: They changed my mind

Video: Jenny Dial: HCYA has home-school advantage

• • •

When I set out to do a story on a home-schooled basektball team, I didn't really know what to expect. In my head, they were a group of girls that didn't really go to school and had all the time in the world to become good basketball players. After spending some time with the team and watching them defeat some really great teams in the area, I have a new outlook on the group.

When I compile rankings each week for girls basketball, HCYA is left out. In reality, the Warriors are probably one of the top 10 teams in the area, period. But, other coaches in the area don't think it's fair for them to be considered. A few of the comments along the way have been "They play like a million games a season," and "All they do is practice." Most coaches and players from regular high schools don't think its fair to group HCYA in with other high schools.

The fact of the matter is that HCYA is incredibly different. They do play more games than anyone- they don't have set eligibilty rules. The fact they are so different makes people look down on them, when it's becoming more and more clear that the reality is other teams are starting to be intimidated by the Warriors.

I watched HCYA beat Dulles in one of the best basketball games I have see all season. Dulles scores more on its opponents than anyone in the area, but HCYA hung in there and ran the court with the Vikings through the whole game. At that point, I became a believer in the Warriors.

It's a strange situation -- home-schooled kids playing basketball. But at the end of the day, the talent that beams from that team is what people should notice. The comments and whispers from people that I've heard about HCYA this year are ridiculous. The Warriors are a good team top to bottom.

In fact, Rachel McLeod, who will suit up for Liberty this season, is definitely one of the top 10 players in this area. When she plays for AAU in the summer, no one questions her athletic abilities. When she puts on her HCYA jersey, she is stared at like she has the plague. Teams in this area need to move past the stigma that goes along with "home-schooled" and notice what is happening on the hardwood.

[Cat22]

HCYA has a few different teams.  The team at the Orangefield tournament was not their better team.