The Lady Harvesters (0-3, 4-15) opened up district play over the last couple of weeks. Pampa faced a tough start to the district gauntlet with Canyon, West Plains, and Borger. The Lady Harvesters ended up dropping all three contests. How does Head Coach Clint Watson feel about being down an 0-3 hole in district play?
“Being down 0-3 to start district isn’t where we want to be but I can tell that the girls are learning and playing hard. We are going to continue to push forward for a playoff spot. Our young team has been showing lots of growth throughout the course of the season. The super tough non-district schedule has paid off. The girls will even tell anyone now that it's been great for us to play all those tough teams. We still have moments of our inexperience showing, but the team that is playing now is definitely not the same team that started the year. We have come a long way. It’s a credit to those girls that show up in the weight room at 7 a.m., go to school all day and then practice til 5:15-5:30 every day,” Watson said.
They begin with a road trip to visit the #1 team in the state in the Canyon Eagles.
The Eagles jumped on Pampa from the opening tip with a 19-3 lead after one quarter. It ballooned to 45-10 at halftime. After three, the score was 61-15. The final was Canyon 78, Pampa 28.
“Canyon came out hot. We were in full court pressure and with their height and length advantage, they just passed it right over the top of us. They hit their first several 3 point attempts. We adjusted a few things and started playing man to man. We were a little more in their face, but Canyon didn’t skip a beat. We competed on the glass as hard as we could, but when you are severely outsized, it's hard to keep up. We were definitely a little shell shocked at first but we settled down the more the game played out. We didn’t back down from them, they are just really good. They are ranked #1 in the state for a reason. I was really proud of the girls for their fighting spirit throughout this game!” Watson said.
Pampa returned home for their next district game on the Friday school let out for winter break. This matchup was with the West Plains Lady Wolves. The game was close with Pampa trailing just 15-12 after one quarter. It was 23-17 in favor of West Plains at halftime. The Lady Harvesters kept in this one after three the score was 33-29. However, West Plains pulled away late to take a 46-34 win.
“West Plains was a dog fight throughout. It was back and forth until the end, when West Plains hit a couple of shots down the stretch, while our open looks just rimmed out. We competed hard on the glass. Our full court pressure really bothered them, although we weren’t able to capitalize on every forced turnover,” Watson said.
The next game was on Monday of this week due to the Christmas holiday and UIL’s dead week rule for gyms to be closed for five days around Christmas. The Lady Harvesters hit the road up Highway 152 to face the rival Borger Bulldogs.
Pampa got out ahead with a 17-13 lead after the first quarter. They led by a few more points 31-25 at halftime. Pampa continued to lead after three quarters by a score of 44-41. The wheels kind of fell off the tracks in the fourth and Borger took the 62-51 win thanks to a massive fourth quarter run on offense.
“We fell behind by about seven early on and we called a timeout to regroup. After that timeout, we took control. Our defensive pressure really got Borger off of their game. We stretched the lead all the way to nine points at one time, but we just weren’t able to strike the final blow. We lead by six points at half. We were able to hold the lead throughout the third (leading by three going into the final quarter.) But our inexperience showed. We made a couple of silly mistakes and foul trouble got the best of us. Borger gained a lot of momentum and we just weren’t able to bounce back after that,” Watson said.
Next up for the Lady Harvesters? They will head to Gruver for a Holiday Tournament on Monday and Tuesday, December 29th and 30th. After that, they get another little break before resuming district play on January 6th at Hereford.
“We head to Gruver for the Holiday Tournament on Monday and Tuesday. We play Gruver (state ranked in 2a) Bushland and Canadian (both teams ranked in 3A) and Stratford (which is always a very tough and physical team.) It will be good for the girls to get tested like this coming out of the break. We head to Hereford to resume district play on Tuesday Jan. 6,” Watson said.
Addi Humphrey
Every article, we are going to showcase one player on the team. This week, that player is Junior Guard Addi Humphrey.
“She has been playing really well heading into the break. She provides some really good 3 point shooting coming off the bench. I look forward to her helping lead us through the rest of district play and into next season,” Watson said.
Stats v. Canyon
Humphrey had two rebounds. Sophomore Brooklyn Warren had four points, four rebounds, an assist, a deflection, and a steal. Junior Tamblynn Moss had four points, making all four of her free-throw attempts. Junior Olivia Owens had one rebound. Sophomore Emmy Boutsamaly had nine points, three three-pointers, one rebound, two deflections, and two steals. Sophomore Nayelie Garcia had two points and one rebound. Sophomore Karsyn Brown had one point, four rebounds, two assists, one deflection, and one steal. Sophomore Madi Barton had eight points, one three-pointer, two rebounds, and two deflections.
Pampa shot 6-11 from the charity stripe. The Lady Harvesters sank four three-pointers. They had 18 rebounds, three assists, six deflections, and four steals.
Stats v. West Plains
Humphrey had one rebound and one deflection. Warren had five points, two rebounds, one assist, four deflections, three steals, and one block. Moss had 13 points, eight rebounds, five deflections, and three steals. Owens had three rebounds. Boutsamaly had nine points, one three-pointer, one rebound, one assist, four deflections, and two steals. Brown had two rebounds and six deflections. Sophomore Myla Zarate had three points, two rebounds, three deflections, and one steal. Barton had four points, one three-pointer, two rebounds, one deflection, and one steal.
Pampa shot 14-23 from the free-throw line. The Lady Harvesters made two three-pointers. They had two assists, 23 rebounds, 24 deflections, 10 steals, and one block.
Stats v. Borger
Junior Payton Gowin had one deflection. Humphrey had seven points, two three-pointers, one rebound, one deflection, one steal, and one block. Warren had five points, five rebounds, two deflections, and one steal. Moss had 10 points, four rebounds, three assists, six deflections, and two steals. Owens had two points, two rebounds, three deflections, and one steal. Boutsamaly had 14 points, three three-pointers, four rebounds, one deflection, and seven steals. Garcia had three points, two rebounds, and one deflection. Brown had one rebound, four deflections, and one steal. Zarate had four points, three rebounds, three deflections, and one steal. Barton had six points, sinking both three-point attempts, one rebound, two deflections, and two steals.
Pampa shot 12-23 from the free-throw line. Pampa was blazing from beyond the arc with a 58% rate and making 7-12. The Lady Harvesters had 26 rebounds, seven assists, 24 deflections, 16 steals, and one block.
Upcoming Schedule
The Lady Harvesters play in the Gruver Holiday Tournament Monday and Tuesday of next week. They will face Gruver, Bushland, Canadian, and Stratford. It will be a final tough test before resuming District play on January 6th at Hereford.
