Photos Courtesy of Charla Shults
The Pampa Lady Harvester basketball team (4-7, 8-23) played two pivotal home games over the last week against the rival Borger Lady Bulldogs and Hereford Lady Whitefaces.
On Tuesday, it was Gold Out Night and Teacher Appreciation for the game against the rival Bulldogs. The game was close with Pampa taking a 9-8 lead after the first quarter. The lead expanded to seven at 24-17 at halftime. The seven point lead held strong after three quarters at 36-29. The final score also was a seven point difference with Pampa winning 47-40.
“I thought we came out from the start being aggressive and taking it to Borger. It was a great atmosphere Tuesday night in McNeely, with gold out, Teachers Appreciation and Dyers BBQ all taking place as well. We needed some revenge since they beat us in December. Our defense was flying around all night, as we caused 22 turnovers,” Head Coach Clint Watson said. “Our three-point defense was also a lot better this time around. In December, we allowed the Garcia sisters from Borger to combine to make eight three-point shots. Last Tuesday, we held their entire team to shooting 1-19 from three-point range. We played unselfish and together. Emmy Boutsamaly had a great game. She scored a game high 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Brooklyn Warren added eight points and 10 rebounds.”
Pampa could really boost their playoff hopes with a win on Friday night against Hereford. The Whitefaces jumped out early with hot shooting to take a 21-9 lead after the first quarter. Pampa scored more in the second quarter but still trailed 34-21 at the break. After three, Hereford’s lead ballooned to 58-33. The final score was Hereford 68, Pampa 39.
“Hereford shot lights out in this game and we weren’t able to convert on our end. We were getting open looks from three-point range and close by the basket, but we just weren’t able to make some shots. I didn’t think our defense played bad, Hereford just had an amazing shooting night. I thought Nayelie Garcia and Myla Zarate played really good defense on Herefords #4 player. We didn’t back down from them and took it to them. Hereford is a good ball team, they are second in the league behind Canyon,” Watson said.
How does the loss shape up the playoff hopes now for the girls with a 4-7 record in district play?
“Even with Friday night's loss, we are still in the hunt for a playoff berth. We need to go to Perryton Tuesday and beat them. That would give us the tie-breaker over Perryton. We have three games remaining (at Perryton, Home vs Randall, at Dumas.) We need to win at least two of those games to finish in a fourth place tie with West Plains. Then we would have a tie-breaking game to determine the fourth-place team in district,” Watson said.
What does the team need to work on before Tuesday’s big game in Perryton and then the home matchup with Randall on Friday?
“I do love the fact that we are attacking the rebounds, on both ends of the court. We are outsized every game that we play. But for the last three games (against West Plains, Borger and Hereford) we have won the rebounding battle. All five girls on the floor do a great job of sticking their nose in there against much bigger players,” Watson said.
Emmy Boutsamaly
Each week we are going to spotlight an athlete. This week is Sophomore Guard Emmy Boutsamaly. She had 23 points and 8 rebounds vs Borger and nine points and three rebounds vs Hereford.
“She handles the ball extremely well and she helps to relay what she sees on the court to me. She's like having a coach on the court. She watches just as much film as a coach would and helps get the girls in the right spot,” Watson said.
Stats v. Borger
Sophomore Addi Humphrey had six points, one three-pointer, five rebounds, and one assist. Sophomore Brooklyn Warren had six points, ten rebounds, two assists, one deflection, and three steals. Junior Tamblynn Moss had one deflection. Sophomore Olivia Owens had seven points and one three-pointer. Boutsamaly had 23 points, eight free throws, one three-pointer, eight rebounds, two assists, two deflections and four steals. Sophomore Nayelie Garcia had one steal. Sophomore Karsyn Brown had three rebounds and four deflections. Sophomore Myla Zarate had three points, one three-pointer, six rebounds, one deflection, and three steals. Sophomore Madi Barton had two points, making both of her free throws, and two deflections. As a team, Pampa made four three-pointers. They hit 11-17 from the free throw line. They had 37 rebounds, five assists, 11 deflections, and 11 steals.
Stats v. Hereford
Junior Payton Gowin had two points and two rebounds. Humphrey had five points, three rebounds, two assists, and made 3-4 free throws. Warren had eight points, two rebounds, one steal, and made 4-6 free throws. Moss had three points, four rebounds, one assist, one steal, and made 1-2 free throws. Owens had two points and six rebounds. Boutsamaly had nine points, one three-pointer, three rebounds, one deflection, three steals, and went 2-3 from the free-throw line. Garcia had four points and two rebounds. Brown had two points, four rebounds, one deflection, and one steal. Zarate had two rebounds and three steals. Barton had four points, three rebounds, making 4-6 from the free-throw line. Pampa shot 14-21 from the charity stripe. The Lady Harvesters made one three. They had 35 rebounds, two deflections, nine steals, and three assists.
District Standings
x-Canyon 11-0
x-Hereford 9-2
Randall 8-3
West Plains 5-6
Perryton 4-7
Pampa 4-7
Dumas 2-9
Borger 1-10
The Lady Harvesters will travel to Perryton on Tuesday night for a big game in the race for the playoffs. They will host Randall on Friday this week. Both games tip at 6 P.M. and you can find them on Pampa Radio as well as Harvester Sports Network on YouTube.
