Mineral Wells Area News

By DAVID MAY

Special to Mineral Wells Area News

Call it the “Coast on the Coast” after the Mineral Wells Lady Rams produced perhaps their greatest defensive performance in school history Friday, defeating Hidalgo, 29-6, for their fifth straight win.

Playing in the 16-team “Toast of the Coast” tournament hosted by Rockport-Fulton ISD, the Lady Rams (6-4) held the Lady Pirates (2-7) scoreless in the second half.

Senior Cadence Colwell led the offensive charge, scoring more than half of the teams points with 15, with nine of those coming from a trio of made three-point shots.

Junior guard Kahlea Samples dropped in four field goals to tally eight points in the win. Caitlyn Colwell added four points and Aniyah Richardson made it onto the scoring chart with two points.

It wasn’t a great shooting performance overall for the ladies in red, playing their third game in two days. The Lady Rams shot just 33 percent from the floor and 36 percent from the charity stripe, but it was more than enough to ease past Hidalgo.

Keying the defensive dominance were 11 steals, with Samples and Richardson snagging three each. Samples and Rindy Carter each recorded a blocked shot.

Samples led the Mineral Wells rebounding effort with six of the team’s 18 boards. Carter and Emery Boswell had four glass cleanings each.

As they did Thursday, the Lady Rams turned around to play a second game Friday evening, this time stepping up to face Class 5A Kerrville Tivy. The Lady Antlers improved to 7-2 with a 45-23 win that ended the Lady Rams’ win streak.

Despite the loss, the result was encouraging for Mineral Wells and showed signs of their continued improvement against an upper class and more experienced Tivy team.

The Lady Rams failed to score in double digits in any quarter, getting off to a slow start with just three points in the first. Still, Mineral Wells went to the break down just 19-12 after a nine point second period.

Tivy came out hot in the third, outscoring the Lady Rams, 19-6, to pull away and ice the game in the fourth.

Sophomore Jaylee Newman had the hot hand for the Lady Rams, scoring 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the floor and making four of her seven free throw attempts. Samples followed with five points.

As a team Mineral Wells was just 8-of-27 shooting for 30 percent. They had just 11 free throw attempts in the game, but canned seven of those.

Boswell and Richardson grabbed four boards each to lead Mineral Wells’ 17-rebound effort. The Lady Rams registered five steals, but hurt themselves with 15 turnovers against the opportunistic Lady Antlers.

Mineral Wells was scheduled to play their fifth game of the tourney at 1 p.m. Saturday, looking to play their way back into the winner’s bracket