ROSWELL, N.M. â The Howard College menâs basketball team wasnât at full strength for Mondayâs game against New Mexico Military Institute, but the Hawks still came away with a 68-58 win to move to 3-0 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference play.
Carlos Emory was huge with 22 points and seven rebounds. He rarely missed, too, shooting 14 of 18 from the field. Shavon Coleman also had 22 points and Corey Stern chipped in 13 points.
BROWNWOOD â The Big Spring Steers had reason to worry when Brownwood jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first quarter.
Head coach Cliff Thompson said it reminded him of the Levelland game when that team made eight consecutive shots to start the game.
But just like in that Levelland game, the Steers withstood the early run and this time, they ended up with a huge 66-56 win at Brownwood to open district play.
Coahoma boys
COLORADO CITY â Coahoma head coach Kim Nichols said Colorado City was solid on defense and Fridayâs game proved just that.
The Bulldogs dropped a District 3-2A road game at Colorado City 54-26, giving them their fourth district loss of the season.
Nichols said his team had a good first half, but the Bulldogs werenât able to pull it all together for four quarters. They were only down by six at the half. A 21-point third from the Wolves didnât help Coahoma, though.
The Bulldogs get their first crack at Denver City on Tuesday as the second half of district play approaches.
Big Spring guards Valerie Ross and Mackenzie Stone live behind the 3-point line.
The two await the moment defenses present an opportunity and leave one of them open, and once Ross and Stone get started, itâs hard to stop them.
âWhen me and Mackenzie are in, we just click,â Ross said. âItâs not competition, but when she makes one, I want to make one. It just helps us out.â
HOBBS, N.M. â The Howard College womenâs basketball team scratched and clawed its way back into a tough game against New Mexico Junior College Thursday night, but ultimately, a few key turnovers doomed the Hawks in a 76-70 loss in overtime.
The Hawks (15-4, 1-1 in WJCAC play) were down by 10 deep into the second half, but made a push to tie the game at the end of regulation. The Lady T-Birds (15-3, 1-0) had a chance to steal the win with the last shot of the second half, but as soon as that was off the mark, Howard had a chance.
Coahoma
While the Coahoma boys are coming off their first win in District 3-2A play, the girls are hoping to get the bad taste out of their mouths from Tuesdayâs loss to Lubbock Roosevelt. Both teams are on the road against Colorado City today. The girls play at 6 p.m. And the boys at 7:30 p.m.
Forsan
Both Forsan teams couldnât get wins over Stanton at home, but theyâll have a chance for redemption at Slaton today. The girls play at 6 p.m. and the boys at 7:30 p.m.
After practice Thursday, Big Spring guard Luke Adams and boysâ basketball coach Cliff Thompson caught themselves in a conversation, mapping out different scenarios of how the Steers can clinch a playoff berth or, even better, win District 5-3A.
Actually, itâs been a recurring topic among the Steers this week.
Howard women
Howard College womenâs basketball head coach Earl Diddle believes New Mexico Junior College is the team to beat in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference.
Thereâs reason to believe him, too, the way he describes the Lady Thunderbirds.
âI really feel that theyâre one of the top teams in the league,â Diddle said. âThey beat South Plains by 20 in the (WJCAC Pre-Conference Tournament). They pose a lot of problems for us. They shoot the 3 well and they have very, very good inside play. So they pose a lot of problems for everyone in the league.â
FORSAN â Forsan girlsâ basketball coach Robert Hillger didnât have much explanation for Tuesdayâs 44-41 loss to Stanton at home.
He said Stanton beat Forsan fair and square.
âI couldnât figure out our identity Tuesday. At the beginning of the game, really the first half, weâre pushing and running and theyâre making shots and weâre not. We like to push and run and we were down five (at the half) anyway, so I was like âAlright, weâre going to slow down the pace of the game. Weâre going to dictate what we want to do and not let them dictate what we want to do.â
The defending national champions just needed a little bit of daylight.
In Mondayâs WJCAC opener, South Plains looked like the better team for most of the game, but once Howard College found an opportunity to steal a win, the Hawks didnât waste it.
âWe feel like we just got outplayed for three-fourths of the game,â Howard head coach Mark Adams said. âBut the last eight minutes, we showed some aggression. We were much more physical with South Plains and we hit some big shots.â
Local Sports
