It wasn’t staged in a mixed-martial-arts octagon, but Thursday night’s basketball exercise between the Georgetown Lady Eagles and Leander was physical enough to make Friday morning’s ice baths a potential highlight of the day.
The Lady Eagles took a 34-30 victory in their opening pool contest in the 39th annual Jack Frost Invitational Tournament at Eagle Gym, but they may have taken what coach Rhonda Farney felt was too much physical and on-court verbal abuse during the game’s 32 minutes of action. The injury status of one starter for Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. pool finale with San Marcos was in question after going to the floor hard in the second half.
“I’m proud of the way our kids kept their composure,” Farney said of a contest in which much of the heavy physical contact was initiated by their smaller opponents. “There’s a fine line between not backing down and losing control, and were able to maintain it.”
The physical pounding wasn’t the only problem Friday faced by the Lady Eagles and their Pool A rivals, Leander and San Marcos. The expected fourth-member of the pool withdrew from the event at midday on Wednesday by leaving a voice mail on assistant coach Kristin Curtis’ phone.
“It hurt all three of us,” Farney said. “It cost us each a game. Instead of having a minimum of four games, we now have the possibility of only three if we don’t win our first game on Saturday. They are a team that has been here for 10 years and have won the tournament in the past.”
On the basis of Thursday’s pool action, Georgetown (7-4) will play Fort Worth Trimble Tech in the Gold Bracket semifinals at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, if the Lady Eagles beat a tall San Marcos team that dropped a 35-26 battle to Leander in its pool contest. Trimble Tech opened its JFT run with impressive wins over defending tournament and 4A state champion Argyle, 45-40, and San Antonio Incarnate Word, 71-60. Tech plays Austin Bowie in a battle of Bulldogs in Friday’s Pool B finale. Bowie lost both of its tourney starts Thursday.
If San Marcos were to beat GHS, the Rattlers, Lions and Lady Eagles would tie for the pool title at 1-1 and tie-breaking procedures would be needed to determine which team advances to which bracket. The Silver semifinals, a probable matchup with Argyle is set for 9:30 a.m. The Bronze semifinals are at 8 a.m. in the lower gym. Saturday’s bracket play is single elimination with semifinal winners advancing to title games later in the day.
Besides being a physical war, the win over Leander was a nail-bitter. The teams were deadlocked 9-9 after woin, GHS, which never trailed, led 20-15 at the half and 30-23 after three. The Lions (7-6) were able to cut the lead to four points twice in the final five minutes. The Lady Eagles led by as many as nine points twice at 30-21 and 32-23.
Georgetown’s only points in the final 4: 11 were a pair of free thows by junior Jaelyn Knight, who led GHS scores with 13 points. The Lady Lions used a 3-pointer by Paige Ephlin and two field goals by senior point guard Kassadie Sanders to keep the pressure on the Lady Eagles. Ephlin was the games leading scorer with 14 points, i8ncluding four 3-pointers.
The inside play of junior post Jade Smith and sophomore forward McCall Hampton also played big in the victory. Smith scored eight points, blocked two shots and grabbed six rebounds. Hampton had a game-high nine boards as Georgetown posted a 23-11 rebounding edge. Junior guard Ali Isbell had three assists and three steals.
GHS only got off 21 shots, but made 11 (52 percent), but struggled at the free-thow line with only 11 makes in 22 attempts. Also on the negative side, the Lady Eagles turned the ball over 20 times.
39TH ANNUAL JACK FROST
INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
At Georgetown High School, Thursday
POOL A BOXSCORE
GEORGETOWN 34, LEANDER 30
LEANDER (30) — Paige Ephlin 5-8 0-0 14, Alice Pineda 0-0 0-0 0, MiKaela Noc 2-9 0-0 4, Kassadie Sanders 3-6 3-5 10, Grace Dickson 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Worthy 0-0 0-0 0, Peighton Smith 1-7 0-0 2, Alexis Bell 0-0 0-0 0, Natalie Keelick 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 11-30 3-5 30.
GHS (34) — Ali Isbell 1-1 0-0 2, Josie Weirich 2-3 0-1 5, Kylie Ellsworth 0-1 0-1 0, Mackenzy Mouton 0-0 0-0 0, Jaelyn Knight 3-5 7-10 13, Maddie Vickers 0-3 2-5 2, Jade Smith 3-4 2-3 8, McCall Hampton 2-4 0-2 4. Totals: 11-21 11-22 44.
Halftime: GHS, 20-15. 3-point scoring: LHS 5-10 (Paige 4-7, Noc 0-1, Sanders 1-2); GHS 1-4 (WQirich 1-2, Ellsworth 0-1, Vickers 0-1). Rebounds: LHS 11, GHS 23 (Hampton 9, Smith 6, Knight 4, Isbell 3). Assists: GHS 7 (Isbell 3, Wirich 2). Steals: GHS 12 (Isbell 3, Hampton 3, Knight 2). Blocks: LHS 1 (Smith); GHS 2 (Smith 2). Turnovers: LHS 17, GHS 21. Total fouls: LHS 20, GHS 10. Fouled out: LHS Dickson (4th, :31). Records: LHS, 7-6; GHS, 7-4.
THURSDAY’S RESULTS
Boys
Pool A
Leander 29, Georgetown 28
Abilene 59, Spring Christian Homeschool Ministries 47
Pool B
San Antonio Churchill 73, Kyle Lehman 60
Trophy Club Byron Nelson 61, College Station Aggieland Homeschool 55
Pool C
Austin Vandegrift 65, Round Rock McNeil 41
Belton 65, Magnolia 58
Pool D
San Antonio Stevens 76, College Station A&M Consolidated 60
Austin Lake Travis 61, Round Rock Westwood 42
Girls
Round One
Pool A
Leander 35, San Marcos 26
Georgetown, open
Pool B
Fort Worth Trimble Tech 45, Argyle 40
San Antonio Incarnate Word 56, Austin Bowie 42
Pool C
Liberty Hill 62, San Antonio Veterans Memorial 27
Belton 47, L ubbock Coronado 30
Pool D
Cibolo Steele 70, Amarillo Tascosa 57
Austin Vandegrift 42, Killeen 32
Round Two
Pool A
Georgetown 34, Leander 30
San Marcos, open
Pool B
Fort Worth Trimble Tech 71, San Antonio Incarnate Word 60
Argyle 56, Austin Bowie 41
Pool C
Liberty Hill 59, Lubbock Coronado 12
Belton 45, San Antonio Veterans Memorial 41
Pool D
Cinolo Steele 69, Killeen 52
Austin Vandegrift 52, Amarillo Tascosa 49
SUB-VARSITY
PFLUGERVILLE JV TOURNAMENT
(GHS scoring only)
First Round
GHS JV 29, ROUND ROCK STONY POINT 16 — Kylee Sander 0, Hailey Hanson 3, Hailey Smith 6, Maya Perry 2, Mercedes Robledo 14, Keiana San Miguel 0, Alicia King 4. Halftime: GHS, 18-8. GHS record: 9-1.
Source: Lady Eagles Basketball.
–By GALEN WELLNICKI