Photos Courtesy of Charla Shults
The Lady Harvesters (1-7) traveled to Panhandle last Tuesday to play one of the perennial powerhouses in 2A girls basketball. They continued a tough schedule with the Canadian Tournament over the weekend as well, playing more ranked teams.
“I know we came up short (on the scoreboard) but the girls are competing and growing. I love being able to coach this group. They soak up everything and do everything as hard as they can. We show glimpses of where I know we will get to. Once we put together a full 32 minutes, we are going to be a really good team. We just have to work through the growing pains right now. Having 5 sophomores and 4 juniors, we are learning how to play together. We have also played a brutal schedule so far (with 5 teams being ranked),” Head Coach Clint Watson said.
The Panhandle Panthers had control from the opening tip Tuesday and the final score was Panhandle 69, Pampa 22.
“I thought we played decent at times against Panhandle. They are a really good team. They are ranked #4 (2A) right now and will make a deep playoff run. The score might’ve looked lopsided, but there were still positives throughout the game. We continued to compete until the final buzzer,” Watson said.
The opening game of the Canadian Tournament was against the host Wildcats. Canadian is another top ranked team in their classification just like Panhandle. After the first quarter, Pampa trailed 17-8. The score was 26-14 Canadian at halftime. After three quarters, Canadian still led 33-20. The Lady Harvesters tried to make a run in the fourth quarter by outscoring the Wildcats 10-6 in the final frame but it wasn’t enough as the Lady Harvesters dropped the game by a 39-30 final.
“The first game of the Canadian tournament was against the #7 ranked (3A) Canadian Lady Wildcats. It was a neat atmosphere, it was during the school day so they had all of the elementary and high school students in the stands. We played tough. We definitely grew together as a team during this game. We battled hard throughout. After the first quarter (which we gave up 17 points) our team defense got tighter. We only allowed 13 points in the second half. Tamblynn Moss played a great game, she scored 11 points and grabbed a game high 13 rebounds,” Watson said.
As Coach Watson has said, he schedules a hard non-district schedule to prepare for the tough district gauntlet. The next game of the tournament was against another ranked team. This one was from Class 1A, the Whitharral Panthers.
Pampa stayed within nine points after the first, second, and third quarters. It was only the final score, Whitharrel 52-26, which was more than the nine point spread.
“The second game of the tournament was against the #7 ranked (1A) Whitharral Lady Panthers. Our legs were a little tired in this game. But we still had moments where we competed and took it to them,” Watson said.
The third game of the tournament was against the Vega Longhorns. After the first quarter, Vega led 13-9. At halftime, Vega led by a score of 20-14. After three quarters, Pampa kept it closer at 29-26. The Longhorns pulled away late in a 41-32 final.
“The third game was against Vega. We fell behind early but was able to battle back and take a 3 point lead a couple of different times in the 2nd and 3rd quarter. Their length gave us fits at times, causing us to turn it over in crucial moments in the game. We were behind by 3 going into the final quarter. Their experience was the difference in the 4th quarter. Our youngsters definitely grew up in this game.,” Watson said.
The final game of the Canadian Tournament was against the Stanton Buffaloes. Stanton jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the first quarter. At halftime, the lead had grown to 12 points at 30-18. After three, Stanton led 41-24. The final score was Stanton 49, Pampa 32.
“The final game was against Stanton. Our lack of depth came into play during this game. We only had 7 girls suited up. We still battled and fought hard. We would cut the lead to 7 or 8 points and then Stanton would make a mini-run and stretch the lead back to 12 or so. We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Watson said.
As Pampa continues the tournaments and the rest of their non-district play, what would the coach like to see from the next few games?
“As far as improvements go, I’d like to see us be more aggressive early in the games. We still kind of play a little timid starting out, but I kind of expected it, with 4 sophs and a junior in the starting lineup. Also, we need to put together a full 32 minutes. We have moments where we win little segments of the game, but we need to extend it to larger segments. We need to do a better job of not turning the ball over so much and battle on the boards better,” Watson said.
The Lady Harvesters hosted the Plainview Bulldogs on Monday afternoon before taking off for the Thanksgiving break. We will recap that game later this week.
“ Previewing the Plainview game, I fully expect this to be a fast, up-tempo style of play. They like to push the ball in transition, so we will have to do a great job of matching up on the fly. They have a couple of good shooters and we will have to know where they are at all times. We need to get out to a fast start and play from ahead, instead of playing catch up. We need to control the glass and the turnover battle. If we do that, I believe we will be in a good position at the end of the game,” Watson said.
Tamblynn Moss
Every article, we are going to showcase one player on the team. This week, that player is Junior Point Guard Tamblynn Moss.
“She is doing a great job running the point guard position. She continues to get better, game by game. She is one of the hardest workers and never complains. During the Canadian tournament, she had a double double against Canadian (11 points 13 rebounds) She is averaging 7 points and 8 rebounds a game. She is like having a coach on the court,” Watson said.
Stat Roundup
Panhandle game:
Junior Tamblynn Moss had nine points. Sophomore Brooklyn Warren had four points. Junior Emmy Boutsamaly, Junior Olivia Owens, Junior Addi Humphrey, and Sophomore Madi Barton all had two points. Barton added three assists. Boutsamaly had four steals and Moss had three steals. Sophomore Myla Zarate had one steal and one point.
Canadian game:
Sophomore Karsyn Brown had six points and six rebounds. Moss had 11 points and 13 rebounds. Barton and Warren had five points each. Humphrey had three points. Barton added three rebounds. Warren, Humphrey, and Owens each had one rebound. Humphrey had three steals. Warren had two steals. Moss and Zarate each had one steal.
Whitharrel game:
Moss had eight points. Owens, Barton, and Warren all had seven points. Humphrey and Zarate had three points. Brown had one point. Moss had another big rebounding game with 13 rebounds. Warren added eight boards. Zarate had six rebounds. Barton had four rebounds. Humphrey and Owens each had three rebounds. Brown had one rebound. Warren added three assists. Moss had two assists and Humphrey had one assist. Moss was huge on defense with five steals. Warren had four steals. Brown had two steals. Humphrey had one steal.
Vega game:
Brown led the way with 12 points. Zarate had nine points. Moss had five points. Barton and Warren each had three points. Moss had another double digit rebounding game with 12 rebounds. Brown added five boards. Warren had four rebounds. Humphrey had three rebounds. Owens and Zarate each had two boards. Barton added one rebound. Moss had three assists. Warren had two assists. Humphrey, Boutsamaly, and Owens each had one assist. Brown had five steals. Humphrey had two blocks and two steals. Owens had two steals. Moss, Zarate, Boutsamaly, and Warren each had one assist.
Stats were not back from HUDL yet for the Stanton game.
Pampa hosted the Plainview Bulldogs on Monday night. Their next game will be Tuesday, December 2nd as they travel to Childress to face the Bobcats. Look for another article later this week recapping the Plainview game. The Lady Harvesters also play at Dalhart on December 5th before going to Brownfield for a tournament the 11th through 13th. District play begins on the 16th against Canyon.
