Photos Courtesy of Charla Shults
The Pampa Lady Harvester Basketball team (3-6, 7-22) faced off with two of Canyon ISD’s schools last week. The first matchup was a home game on Tuesday with the Canyon Lady Eagles. Canyon is one of the top ranked teams in the state and is always a tough battle.
Canyon jumped out early with a 21-8 lead after the first quarter. The lead was extended at halftime to 40-16. The third quarter continued to build the lead at 62-19. The final was Canyon 81, Pampa 24.
“Canyon is a superb team. We fought and clawed for everything that we earned in this game. We didn’t back down from them any. We battled them throughout the first half. We attacked them and got three of their starters in foul trouble. But they are just too deep. They move the ball well. Canyon ended up making 13 3-pointers, even though we had a hand in their face while they shot. We did our best but their experience took over in the second half,” Head Coach Clint Watson said.
The game on Friday had to be changed a couple of different times due to weather. Coach Watson had the girls ready despite the adversity and unknown with the weather. It was a pivotal game for the district standings and keeping any playoff hopes alive.
The score was tied at four all at the end of the first. Pampa took an 18-11 lead at halftime. The Lady Harvesters extended the lead to 32-22 at the end of three. Pampa took the game 42-32.
“We came out playing hot and stayed hot throughout the game. We were super aggressive, attacking the hoop every possession. We missed a few early shots, but we were right there for many offensive rebounds. We had five of our 11 offensive rebounds in the first quarter. Our defense was tight throughout. We forced 26 turnovers, while only committing 17. We won the rebounding battle, 34-28, against a much taller West Plains team,” Watson said. “Throughout the second half, our defense really tightened up, which allowed us to get up to a 14 point lead at one point in the third quarter. Brooklyn Warren played a huge part in the defensive effort, collecting three charges. Karsyn Brown, Myla Zarate, Madi Barton and Olivia Owens flew around the court, causing West Plains to never get comfortable on offense. Tamblynn Moss put together a superb game, tallying 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Emmy Boutsamaly added 10 points and played great defense. This was a huge team win for us. I’m so proud of the fight the girls continue to show.”
The West Plains win puts Pampa right in the thick of the push for the fourth and final playoff spot. Pampa has more critical games this week against Borger and Hereford. They are both at home as well on Tuesday and Friday.
“We are currently sitting at 3-6 in fifth, a game behind both West Plains and Perryton. We have some momentum on our side going into this week. We have Borger and Hereford at home this week. Borger on Tuesday, we are having our annual gold out night, and also having Teacher Appreciation and Dyers BBQ night. Come out and pack the gym! We are going to have to continue to play lights out defense this week. Borger has a couple of girls that shoot it well. We need to lock down on them and control tempo,” Watson said. “Hereford will be a track meet on the hardwood. They like to play fast, we just have to pick and choose when to play fast. We need to track down every rebound, because Hereford likes to shoot the three-ball.”
Stat Roundup Canyon
Junior Payton Gowin had two rebounds. Junior Addi Humphrey had two points, one deflection, and one steal. Sophomore Brooklyn Warren had three points, four rebounds, one assist, and two steals. Junior Tamblynn Moss had 10 points, one three-pointer, four rebounds, four assists, and a block. Junior Olivia Owens had two points and one rebound. Sophomore Emmy Boutsamaly had four points, one three-pointer, two rebounds, two assists, three deflections, and one steal. Sophomore Karsyn Brown had three points, one rebound and one assist. Sophomore Myla Zarate had one rebound and one deflection. As a team, Pampa shot 4-9 from the free-throw line. They had 18 rebounds, eight assists, five deflections, four steals, and one block.
Stat Roundup West Plains
Boutsamaly had 10 points, two rebounds, three assists, one deflection, and four steals. Brown had four points, four rebounds, and two deflections. Warren had eight points, one three-pointer, five rebounds, two assists, one deflection, and three steals. Moss had 16 points, 11 rebounds, one assist, and one deflection. Zarate had two points, four rebounds, one deflection and two steals. Owens had one assist. Sophomore Madi Barton had two points and one steal. As a team, Pampa shot 7-12 from the charity stripe. They had seven assists, 34 rebounds, six deflections, and 10 steals.
DISTRICT 4-4A Standings (top four advance to playoffs)
Canyon 9-0
Hereford 7-2
Randall 6-2 (game versus Borger Friday PPD)
West Plains 4-5
Perryton 4-5
Pampa 3-6
Dumas 1-8
Borger 1-7 (game versus Randall Friday PPD)
Pampa will host Borger at 6 P.M. on Tuesday night. It will be Teacher Appreciation Night as well as Gold Out and Dyers BBQ will be served. On Friday night at 6 P.M., Pampa hosts Hereford. Both games are critical for the playoff hopes to stay alive.
