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SPORTING NEWSPage B1 Sunday, February 23, 2014

By Will JohnsonMessenger Reporter NACOGDOCHES - It was

a game of “could haves.” If the clock had worked right, the Lady Bulldogs could have sustained momentum in the first half and built an insur-mountable lead. If Crockett had not gotten into foul trou-ble early in the first half, they could have dominated the game. Unfortunately, the could haves never material-ized and the Crockett Lady Bulldogs fell to the Tatum Lady Eagles in the Regional Quarter Finals by a score of 42-39.

The game was plagued by technical problems with the clock / scoreboard all eve-ning. The resulting issues killed any momentum either team could generate and caused play to start and stop throughout the first half on numerous occasions. Crockett Head Coach Gary Watkins addressed the issue after the game. “What we found out was the guy who was supposed to do the clock never showed up. The guy who did run it had never run it before. He was supposed to be the announcer. I think he took a crash course in run-

Lady Bulldogs Lose Heartbreaker To Lady Eagles, 42-39Clock Issues, Foul Trouble Doom Crockett

Photo by Will Johnson / Messenger Sports

Madyson Gunnels drives to the basket in the waning seconds of the Crockett Lady Bulldogs Regional Quarter Final match up against the Tatum Lady Eagles. The Lady

Bulldogs lost a heartbreaker to the Lady Eagles by a final score of 42-39.See Lady Bulldogs, Page B2

Grapeland Power Lifter Has Last Meet

By Barrett SteedMessenger SportsBULLARD, Texas—the Grapeland Sandies’ Power Lifting

season came to a close last Saturday afternoon at Bullard High School. Grapeland’s P.J. Lewis was the only Sandy who com-peted in the meet. His weight totals on the different lifts were: Squat: 325 lbs, Bench Press: 170 lbs, Dead Lift: 345 lbs, which totaled 840 lbs. Lewis competed in the 148 pound weight class and the totals were enough to earn him 4th place at the meet. Kaleb Leonard also competed this season but was unable to attend the last meet. The Grapeland Power Lifters were coached by Shawn Brown.

Grapeland Sandies Baseball Host Golf Tournament In Memory Of Coach Padgett

By Barrett SteedMessenger SportsELKHART, Texas—Grapeland Sandies’

Baseball Booster Club hosted a golf tourna-ment last Saturday morning at the Elkhart Golf Club in honor of the late coach, Wes Padgett. Benefits from the tournament went to support Grapeland Sandies’ Baseball. It

was a beautiful day to commemorate Coach Padgett’s influence on the players and the Sandies’ baseball program. There were sau-sage wraps and raffles sold, skill awards for longest drive and closest to pin, and trophies for the winning teams. The booster club would like to thank all who participated and donated to make it a great day.

Bulldogs Dominate Kirbyville 67-43By Barrett SteedMessenger SportsLUFKIN, Texas—the

Crockett Bulldogs traveled to Angelina College Tuesday night to face the Kirbyville Wildcats in the first round of the playoffs.

The Crockett Bulldogs estab-lished the pace of the game early against the Kirbyville Wildcats Tuesday night show-ing they will be tough to beat. In the first quarter of play it was clear that everything was coming together at the right time for the Bulldogs. Crockett’s press defense would force an early turnover setting up Sophomore Tyler Dowell to kick start the Bulldogs’ offense with a three pointer. The Wildcats would play hard to recover from the fast paced offense and defense of the Bulldogs and seemed to finally return the game to a man-ageable pace. After it slowed down for the Wildcats, Coach

Photo by Yonelly Gutierrez / Messenger SportsSee Bulldogs, Page B4

Palestine Stuns Jasper In ThrillerBy Will JohnsonMessenger ReporterNACOGDOCHES - It was a

scene that a million kids in a million driveways or back-yards have played out over and over throughout the years. One second left on the clock. You toe the free throw line. The raucous crowd goes deadly silent as you focus your con-centration on the rim 13 feet away. One, two, three dribbles, exhale, flex your knees and shoot. Nothing but the bottom of the net. The crowd goes wild and the game is over.

On Tuesday night in Nacogdoches, the backyard scene became a reality. With 1.4 seconds showing on the game clock, Palestine’s Sheldon Watson stepped to the char-ity stripe and drained a free throw, sending the Wildcats into the second round of the playoffs and sending the Jasper Bulldogs home for the year,

Photo by Will johnson / Messenger

Palestine’s CJ Barrett goes up for a shot during first half Bi-District action against the Jasper Bulldogs. The

Wildcats nipped the Bulldogs by a score of 53-52. See Palestine, Page B4

Westwood Panthers Fall To Newton EaglesBy Barrett SteedMessenger SportsLUFKIN, Texas—the

Westwood Panthers traveled to Angelina College Tuesday night to face the Newton Eagles in the Bi-District 2A Region III Playoffs.

The Westwood Panthers led by Seniors Travion Hicks, Jerry Turner, Corey Dorsey, Jacob Gray, and Adam Vinson, arrived at Angelina College on February 18th hoping to keep their season and playoff run alive against the Newton Eagles. The start of the game would showcase two physical basket-ball teams who had no inten-tion of playing in their final game of the season.

In the first quarter, both teams came out determined to dominate the paint under the goal enabling Newton shooters to capitalize from the three-point line and come out to an early lead against the Panthers. The Panthers would fight hard

See Westwood, Page B5Photo by Yonelly Gutierrez / Messenger Sports

Photo by Yonelly Gutierrez / Messenger Sports


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Page B2 The Messenger Sunday, February 23, 2014

ning the clock right before the game, during warm-ups. It wasn’t his fault. He was just fill-ing in. In his defense, it really wasn’t his fault. He just came to do the announcing.”

When the players were able to get the game going, the first quarter saw the Lady Bulldogs assert their dominance inside. Antraneisha McKnight and Terrineka Simon scored ten of Crockett’s points from inside the paint while Shelby Curry drained a three and added a mid range jumper to close out the first quar-ter scoring for the Lady Bulldogs.

Tatum tried to drive inside on the Crockett defense but to no avail as they only netted one bucket from Alexes Bell. The Lady Eagles did however, score eight points from the free throw line as they were able to get some favor-able calls against McKnight and Simon.

The second quarter was more of the same as the Lady Eagles worked the ball inside to draw fouls on the Lady Bulldogs post players. Ro’Nishia Simpson scored four points inside the paint, while the other six points Jasper scored came from the foul line.

Beverly Ross, Madyson Gunnels and McKnight all scored three apiece, while Curry added a free throw for the Lady Bulldogs in the second quarter. At the end of two, Crockett led by a score of 25 -20. The big story, however, was the discrepancy at the foul line. Of their 20 points, the Lady Eagles tallied 14 of the 20 they scored from the charity stripe while the Lady Bulldogs were only sent to the line eight times in the first half.

With Crockett’s McKnight and Simon in foul trouble to start the third quarter, Tatum took advantage of their absence in the paint. The Lady Eagles’ JaKaylon Lee and Kaylah Starling each contributed four points inside while Ry’Shaneek Starling continued to nail

her free throws and help turn a five point deficit into a four point lead for Jasper head-ing into the fourth quarter.

Crockett came out of the locker room at the break ice cold from the field. Shots that had fallen all season for the Lady Bulldogs rimmed out or hit the front of the rim and bounced harmlessly away. Gunnels netted three and Curry sank two free throws as Crockett was only able to muster five points in the quarter and trailed 34-30 heading into the fourth.

Lee knocked down a shot to start the fourth quarter and extend the lead to 36-30. McKnight came back into the game and was able to score four points to keep the Lady Bulldogs in the contest as they battled back and actually tied the game at the 2:45 mark. Six quick points by Lee and Starling pushed the lead back to six. A big shot from behind the arc by Crockett’s Dajah Davis and a lay up from Gunnels cut the lead back to one, 40-39, with 28 sec-onds left. Despite their comeback, it was not meant to be for the Lady Bulldogs as Lee knocked down another two for Jasper to close out the game and hand Crockett the 42-39 defeat.

For the game, Crockett was led by McKnight who had 15 points on the evening. Curry and Gunnels each had eight, Davis added four, and Simon and Beverly Ross finished the night with two apiece. Tatum was led by Lee who had 15.

After the game, Coach Watkins said while he was disappointed with the way the season ended, he thought this year’s team had a remarkable season and achieved more than anyone expected. “We had a great season. Maybe even better than last year when we went further. We lost the staring five from last year and my first guard off the bench. I lost my top six girls from last year from the

team that went to the Regional Tournament. I knew starting this year we were going to be young and inexperienced. I was honestly glad they were sending four teams to the playoffs this year. I thought at the beginning of the year we might get the third or fourth spot.”

“We lost three games the first two weeks of the season,” Watkins continued. “We were still trying discover ourselves and then after about two weeks we started rolling. We

lost two games in district to Central Heights who was number three in the state. We ended up 30-6 an in the Regional Quarter Finals from a team that was looking at third or fourth in district. I’m very proud of these girls. I told them don’t be sad. We were 10-2 in district and 30-6 on the year. We have exceeded all expectations for this team, in my opinion.”

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected] .

Lady BulldogsContinued From Page B1

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Sunday, February 23, 2014 The Messenger Page B3

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BulldogsEmmons readied his reserves. Following the first team foul, five Bulldogs would come out and five fresh replacements would take their place, play-ing with the intensity of a team determined to dominate early. When Senior Cedgadrick Harris took the court, Kirbyville might have well con-ceded the paint and began to rely on their shoot-ing. The sharpshooting Wildcats would pull out in front of the physical Bulldogs before the end of the quarter. After a hard fought start by both teams, Kirbyville would lead the Bulldogs 10-13.

The second quarter began as fast paced as the first. The Bulldog defense came out deter-mined to halt the open shooting by the Wildcats. Kirbyville would force passes when there was no shot, producing turnover after turnover. The high powered Bulldog offense led by Carlton Shirley and Don Gilbert would capitalize on the defenses productivity making the second quarter a blow out. The offensive and defensive rally by the Bulldogs would change the pace of the game indefinitely, allowing Crockett to run away with the lead. The first points of the quarter for the Kirbyville Wildcats would come at the 2:30 mark, and at the end of the second

quarter, the Bulldogs’ defense would hold the Wildcats to just three points, while the offense would break the game wide open, scoring 24. At the end of the first half, the Bulldogs would lead the Wildcats 35-16.

Both teams came out in the third quarter of play looking to overcome the explosive end to the first half. Kirbyville attempted to recover from the intimidation factor of being nearly shut out on offense and dominated on defense by the Bulldogs. Crockett’s shooters went to work, Senior Colby Berry would keep the Bulldogs’ outside threat alive and Junior Voshon Elem would work under the goal, coming down with the ball and putting up quick points. At the end of the third quarter the score stood 56-26, Crockett over Kirbyville.

As the fourth quarter of play was underway, Coach Emmons rotated fresh jerseys in the game showing the depth of the Bulldogs and giving everyone on his team a taste of playoff basketball against a great Kirbyville team. The Wildcats refused to go down without a fight and worked hard to advance on the Bulldogs. After four great quarters of play, the Crockett Bulldog would hold the lead and end the great season of the Kirbyville Wildcats with a final score 67-43.

Continued From Page B1


Bulldogsfollowing a dramatic 53-52 victory. Watson inten-tionally missed his second free throw attempt, forcing Jasper into a desperation heave at the buzzer that fell short.

The game was not without a little controversy, however. With Jasper trailing 52-51, the Bulldogs had a fast break opportunity at the 1:22 mark of the fourth. As Davion Smith brought the ball up court, a small souvenir basketball rolled out onto the floor from the Palestine side of the arena. The referees whistled the play dead and instead of potentially going up by one, the Bulldogs were forced to settle for a free throw, on their ensuing possession, to tie the game at 52 with less than a minute to play.

Jasper’s defense forced a turnover and with 31 seconds showing on the clock, Bulldog Coach Ted Williams instructed his team to play for the last shot. The strategy backfired. A Bulldog shot went up at the six second mark and glanced off the rim. Palestine’s Dee McMorris snared the

rebound and fired an outlet pass to Sheldon Watson, who raced up court and was fouled on a drive to the basket, setting up the dramatic finish.

The game started with the Wildcats open-ing on a 10-2 run. Jonathan York scored four points for Palestine while McMorris, Vay Davis and Tony Butler each added baskets to go along with four free throws. The Bulldogs stormed back behind six free throws, four points from Laquinton Bryant and a bucket apiece from Blake McClelland and Roy Hennington to make the score 14-14 after one period of play.

As the second quarter got underway, the pace picked up. Jasper’s Davion Smith scored nine of his game high 12 points in the quarter while Palestine saw seven different players score. The Wildcats led by three but a Malik Smith lay-up as time expired cut the Palestine lead to one head-ing into the break.

When the second half started, Palestine’s McMorris began to take over on the inside. McMorris was able to score six points and pulled

down five boards during the third stanza. Smith and Chris Spikes kept the Bulldogs close but as the fourth quarter began, the Wildcats had pushed their lead to three.

Both teams seemed tentative as the final quar-ter began. It wasn’t until the five minute mark that either team was able to break into the scor-ing column. A technical foul on the Palestine bench gave Jasper two free throws and the ball, with just under a minute gone in the quarter, but they were unable capitalize.

Tony Butler drained Palestine’s lone three pointer on the night as the scoreboard showed five minutes left to play and gave the Wildcats their biggest lead since the first quarter. The intensity ratcheted up, but the playoff pressure seemed to shrink the basket for both teams. The Bulldogs clawed their way back into the game using free throws and a big three ball from Hennington. A free throw by Jasper’s Smith tied the game with 51 seconds left, but only managed to set the stage for Watson’s late game heroics as Palestine hung on to win in dramatic

fashion by a score of 53-52. After the game Palestine Coach Bret Botard

commented on his team’s performance and Watson’s clutch free throw. “I feel like I lost ten years off my life!” he said. “It was good to have a senior on the line. It was a great win. Jasper is a heck of a team. We are real fortunate to get out of here with a W tonight. We are battle tested and we are not going to play too many more teams as athletic as Jasper. We can play with the best athletes in our region. From here on out, we’re just going to go out and play ball.”

Regarding Watson’s game winner, Botard said, “I was hoping he would make the first one, which he did, because we were going to miss the second one and force them to make a shot from 90 feet. We executed the way we wanted to in the last second. Prior to that, I told them if we got the rebound, to push and get something strong to the rim. We did everything we were supposed to do.”

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected] .


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Sunday, February 23, 2014 The Messenger Page B5

Westwoodin the first quarter to keep the game close. Junior Sam Carlisle would lead the Panther offense, scoring four and picking up his first two fouls. At the end of the quarter the score stood 12-21, Newton in front.

The second quarter Westwood’s offense came out strong led by Senior Travion Hicks and Sophomore D.J. Hicks who would both hit three-pointers early to help the Panthers’ cause. Newton matched the intensity of the Panthers and weren’t ready to give up the lead to the Westwood rally. The Eagles aggressive defense caused the Panthers to force passes on offense, leading to fast breaks, keeping their opponent

at a distance. Sophomore Dejuan Henderson would pull down big rebounds for the Panthers, not willing to let the Eagles run away with the game. Headed into the half, the score was 27-36, Newton over Westwood.

The third quarter began as electric as the first half of play. Senior Jerry Turner would play great on both sides of the ball, pulling down rebounds and making big shots to help the Panthers’ cause. The Panthers would call great plays that pro-duced open shots time and again, but the shots didn’t seem to fall. Newton would use this to their advantage as they were able to set their pace early on in the quarter, stretching the lead to 16 points over the Panthers. Westwood would fight hard to give their team hope going into the fourth quar-

ter rallying back to bring the lead within 10. The score at the end of the third quarter was 44-54, Newton.

The final quarter of play can only be described as all or nothing basketball. Westwood came out and started an aggressive rally against the Eagles. After a series of opportune rebounds sparking fast breaks and steals changing the pace, Westwood bounced back to bring the deficit to one. Newton couldn’t believe it, but the Westwood fans who had watched this team all sea-son expected nothing less of their Panthers. The Newton Eagles, however, weren’t ready to give up the lead. The Eagles stretched it out again on the Panthers before the end of the quarter and held it to the end of the game, bringing one

ball team’s great season to a close and keeping their own playoff hopes alive. At the final buzzer, the Newton Eagles would beat the Westwood Panthers 64-74.

After the game, Coach Scott Nettles com-mented on a great game, “It came out hot and we played from behind most of the night. We made a run in the second half, but couldn’t overcome. We struggled getting the ball to fall tonight.” He would also comment on the Panthers’ great sea-son, “We knew coming in we lost a lot from last year. We are playing with a lot of young kids and we feel like they really grew. We have a lot to work with next year coming back, really only lose one starter. The rest of these kids will come back for us, so we’re looking forward to that next year.”


Grapeland Sandiettes Softball Continue To Dominate In Tournament

By Barrett SteedMessenger SportsGRAPELAND, Texas—Grapeland Sandiettes

continue their hot streak in their hometown tournament after a 15-0 victory over the Leon Lady Cougars.

It would be Junior Baylee Lumbreraz to get the start for the Sandiettes. Grapeland’s ace has been tough to beat so far all year and judging by her warming up on her home mound it looked like it would be nearly impossible. Lumbreraz would retire the first batter on strikes before the fans were even settled in their seats. As the second batter stepped in the box, the Grapeland pitcher continued her assault. The Lady Cougar would swing through three strikes for the second out. The third batter of the inning stepped in against Lumbreraz and would face the same fate. She had struck out the side.

Following the big defensive inning, it was the Sandiettes turn to make a dent in the score-board. Senior Clara Shaw was hit by a pitch and advanced to second after a fielder’s choice. Junior Holly Musick would be up with a runner in scor-ing position and hit a shot to the outfield that would score the run. Musick was now standing on second with the pitcher Lumbreraz stepping up to the plate. After watching a pitch, Lumbreraz did what she could do to help her cause on the mound sending a shot to left, scoring Musick and making it in to second. The Lady Cougars would take back control of the inning, but only after the two runs scored. But with the way Lumbreraz was pitching, that may be all they need.

In the top of the second, Lumbreraz would produce another hitless inning, striking out the side and retiring six batters in a row. The Lady Cougars were playing catch up all night with her fast ball.

The bottom of the second would produce more run support for the Sandiettes. Sophomore Cheyenne Mixon would score Senior Atlanta Watson on a sharp hit single, and Mixon would score on a single by Freshman Taylar Mullen. After the scoring rally that saw the Sandiettes go through the line up two full times, the Lady Cougers finally got their three outs. At the end of the second inning the score stood a very uneven 12-0, Grapeland over Leon.

Baylee Lumbreraz took the mound at the top of the third inning looking to get back to work. The first batter managed to get a piece of Lumbreraz, fouling a few off before the last swinging strike. The next two batters wouldn’t even make contact. Baylee Lumbreraz struck out the side again, entering into the bottom of the third.

Entering the bottom of the third, Grapeland only needed three runs to end the game before regulation and enact the 15 run rule after the third inning of play. Sophomore Whitney Musick was the first up for Grapeland. After watching a pitch, she would single to left. Next, Junior Alison Gilbert steps up to the plate and singles to advance the runner to third and eventually home on a wild pitch. Sophomore Alyssa Angerstein gets on base followed by Freshman Madison Holbrook who gets walked, leaving the bases loaded for Clara Shaw for a second time tonight. Show stands in the box looking to end the game with one swing, but the pitch is inside and strikes her on the arm, bringing home a runner. The next batter, Taylar Mullen, takes her turn at the plate. The first pitch high, the next two in the dirt, the last one would advance her to first on a walk and bring the runner home to end the game with the Sandiettes on top, 15-0.

Photo by Will Johnson / Messenger

Grapeland’s Holly Musick is shown as she crosses the plate in the Sandiettes’ Thursday evening match up with the Leon Lady Cougars.

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