As the year 2020 stutters, sputters, mutters, and, at times, screams its way into its final month, the uncertainties seem to have pushed the certainties into a corner. And the realm of high school athletics is no different as the pandemic has become the ultimate schedule maker or — in most cases — the unmaker. For the second time this season, the Georgetown Lady Eagles faced an unplanned open date this past Saturday when varsity, junior varsity, and freshman games at Austin Vandegrift were erased from the schedule by Covid-19 problems in the Vipers’ school community. Also, Georgetown’s three-game date at Waco La Vega on Tuesday has been rescheduled as a doubleheader with a JV game at 5 p.m. and a varsity encounter at 6:15 p.m. A Freshman Blue game, which was set to open the evening, was dropped from the calendar.
In a season in which the University Interscholastic League only allows teams to play 27 games with no tournaments, GHS currently has now been reduced to 25 games as its season opener with Round Rock Cedar Ridge was scuttled for “non-Covid reasons.” Georgetown head coach Rhonda Farney and her staff did try to fill Saturday’s sudden open date but were unable to do so to their satisfaction. However, the state-ranked Lady Eagles did improve their season record to 6-1 with a pair of victories earlier in the week as they bested 6A Round Rock, 49-33, on Tuesday and 5A Pflugerville Connally, 36-28, on Friday. Both those games were on the road. As of now, the contest with the La Vega Pirates (4-2) will be Georgetown’s next-to-last non-district test before opening the 14-game 25-5A campaign next Tuesday, Dec. 8, against Leander Glenn at Eagle Gym. The Lady Eagles are scheduled to entertain 6A Belton for three games this coming Friday.
La Vega could prove to be a major test for GHS as it is coming off a 49-34 win over 6A Waco Midway, a team GHS downed 45-27, in its actual season opener on November 11. The Pirate’s losses have been to 5A power College Station, 64-48, and 3A Fairfield, 64-48. Both losses were on their homecourt. La Vega was picked to finish second to China Spring in 18-4A. Celebrating her birthday in style, 6-foot-4 junior Niah Williams scored 13 of her career-high 19 points in the second half to lead GHS to its victory over the Round Rock’s Lady Dragons. Nine of those points came in the fourth quarter as the Lady Eagles broke open a game that saw them lead just 18-13 at the half. Both teams got off to a slow start as Georgetown led just 10-9 after the first quarter. Junior guard Jacqui Spencer, who had competed in the UIL State Cross Country Meet on the previous day, was the Lady Eagles’ only other double-digit scorer with 10 points. Williams also topped the rebounding chart with 10 and along with fellow junior center Sheila Lee had two blocks each. Senior Graci Harris chipped in seven steals and seven assists.
“We got the win, but it didn’t look pretty,” Farney said of the performance at Round Rock. “We got the shots we wanted, but not all of them went down. Niah had a good game and we did a good job getting to the ball (GHS had 21 steals). Again, our JV and freshmen played well.” In fact, slow starts were the order of the week as GHS led just 4-0 after the first quarter of the Connally game on field goals by Lauren Woodard and Williams. The Lady Eagles increased the lead to 19-9 at the half but were outscored 19-17 in the second half with Connally pulling within four points at the end of the third period, 26-22. A 3-pointer by Jordyn Stout and a basket by Lee kicked the lead back out to nine points in the first minute of the final quarter. Connally cut the GHS lead to five at 33-28 with 1:51 to go but went scoreless for the remainder of the contest with Harris adding three free throws to the Lady Eagles’ total. Harris led GHS scoring with 10 points and also had seven of the Lady Eagles’ 28 steals in a game in which the two teams turned the ball over 55 times. Ella Vickers, a 5-4 junior, and Williams led Georgetown to a 28-14 rebounding edge with five each. Williams also had three blocks. “It wasn’t pretty, but I’d rather have an ugly win,” Farney said of the win over Connally. “Our cross country kids seemed to be a little leg-weary. The rest this weekend probably will do them good.”
In the sub-varsity games with Round Rock, the JV (6-0) prevailed 64-27 and the Freshman Blue (5-1) won, 44-10. After leading 35-22 at the half, GHS outscored the Round Rock JV 29-5 in the second half with Brooke White, Amiya Gonzales, and Madelyne Furr scoring 14, 13, and 13 points, respectively. In the freshman contest, the Blue built a 30-2 halftime edge with Lucy Waring scoring 18 points and Caroline Rutledge adding 14.
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SATURDAY’S SCHEDULED GAMES
GHS Varsity, JV, and Freshman Blue at Austin Vandegrift canceled (Covid-19 issues).
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FRIDAY’S VARSITY GAME
At Pflugerville Connally
GEORGETOWN 36, PFLUGERVILLE CONNALLY 28
GHS (36) — Ella Vickers 0-3 0-0 0, Niah Williams 2-3 0-0 4, Jacqui Spencer 3-6 0-0 6, Sam Folsom 0-2 0-0 0, Morgan Larson 1-3 0-0 2, Graci Harris 1-2 7-11 10, Megan Herring 1-3 1-2 3, Jordyn Stout 1-7 0-0 3, Lauren Woodard 2-4 2-2 6, Sheila Lee 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 12-35 (34 percent) 10-15 (67 percent) 36.
PC (28) — Jordyn Barrera 1-5 0-1 2, Krystal Berry 0-1 0-0 0, D. Gomez 0-0 0-0 0, L. Fowler 6-11 0-1 13, M. Robinson 1-4 0-0 2, K. Barefield 0-1 0-0 0, L. Rollins 3-6 1-4, M. Wright 1-5 1-4 3, Alexandria Hernandez 0-0 0-0 . Totals: 12-33 (36 percent) 2-10 (20 percent) 28.
Halftime: GHS, 19-9. Assists: GHS, 10 (Harris 4). 3-point shooting: GHS, 2-15 (Harris 1-2, Stout 1-7, Vickers 0-1, Spencer 0-1, Folsom 0-2, Larson 0-2); PC, 2-10 (Fowler 1-2, Rollins 1-1). Rebounds: GHS, 28 (Vickers 5, Williams 5, Lee 4, Woodard 4); PC, 14 (Robinson 6). Blocks: GHS, 3 (Williams 3); PC, 1 (Rollins 1). Steals: GHS 28 (Harris 7, Larson Larson 5, Spencer 3, Lee 3); PC, 10 (Robinson 4). Turnovers: GHS, 27; PC 28. Total fouls: GHS, 15; PC, 17. Fouled out: PC, Robinson. Technical fouls: none. Season records: Georgetown, 6-1; Pflugerville Connally, 2-5.
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TUESDAY’S VARSITY GAME
At Round Rock High School
GEORGETOWN 49, ROUND ROCK 33
GHS (49) –Ella Vickers 1-6 0-0 2, Nia Williams 8-11 3-4 19, Jacqui Spencer 5-7 0-0 10, Sam Folsom 0-0 1-2 1, Morgan Larson 0-2 0-0 0. Graci Harris 1-8 2-2 4, Megan Harring 2-3 0-0 4, Jordyn Stout 0-4 0-0 0, Lauren Woodard 2-4 0-0 4, Sheila Lee 2-3 1-2 5. Totals: 21-48 (44 percent) 7-10 (70 percent) 49.
RR (33) — Laubenstein 0 0-0 0, Rufus 0 1-3 1, Rasana 7 0-0 16, Rivas 0 0-0 0, McCormick 0 0-0 0, Griffin 2 0-0 5, Featherstone 3 1-2 7, Owen 2 0-0 4, Reynolds 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-50 (28 percent) 2-5 (40 percent) 33.
Halftime: GHS, 18-13. 3-point shooting: GHS, 0-16 (Vickers 0-5, Williams 0-1, Spencer 0-2, Harris 0-4, Stout 0-4); RR 3-21 (Rosana 2, Griffin 1). Assists: GHS 20 (Harris 7, Larson 5). Rebounds: GHS 37 (Williams 10, Lee 6, Harris 4, Woodard 4, Herring 4); RR 22. Blocks: GHS. 4 (Williams 2, Lee 2). Steals: GHS, 21 (Harris 7, Williams 4, Spencer 4); RR, 7. Turnovers: GHS, 16; RR 27. Total fouls: GHS, 14; RR, 15. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none. Season records: Georgetown, 5-1; Round Rock, 2-3.
Note; Complete Round Rock individual statistics not available.
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TUESDAY’S SUB-VARSITY GAMES
At Round Rock High School
(GHS scoring only)
JUNIOR VARSITY
GEORGETOWN 64, ROUND ROCK 27
GHS (64) — Natalie Rivera 0 0-0 0, Erica Ramthun 2 0-0 5, Brooke White 5 0-0 14, Avery Lopez 2 2-2 6, Taylor Meyners 2 0 2-4 6, Madelyne Furr 6 1-1 13, Amiya Gonzales 5 3-4 13, Jane Butler 1 4-6 7. Totals: 23 12-17 64. Halftime: GHS, 35-22. 3-point goals: White 4, Ramthun 1, Butler 1.
GHS season record: 6-0.
FRESHMAN BLUE
GEORGETOWN 44, ROUND ROCK 10
GHS (44) –Itzel Bazaldua 0 0-1 0, Bella Flowers 0 0-0 0, Carolina Rutledge 5 4-6 14, Ashlyn Sanchez 1 0-1 2, Lucy Waring 8 2-2 18, Ava Linyard 1 2-3 4, Aspen Mayo 3 0-2 6. Totals: 18 8-15 44. Halftime: GHS, 30-2. 3-point goals: none. GHS season record: 5-1.
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THIS WEEK’S LADY EAGLES SCHEDULE
(Subject to change)
VARSITY
Tuesday — at Waco La Vega, 6:15 p.m. Friday — Belton, 8 p.m.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Tuesday — at Waco La Vega, 5 p.m. Friday — Belton, 6:30 p.m. Saturday — at Florence, 11:15 p.m.
FRESHMAN BLUE
Friday — Belton, 5:15 p.m. Saturday — at Florence, 10 a.m.
FRESHMAN WHITE
Friday — Salado, 6:30 p.m.