…Eagles split with Geronimo and Temple
Waurika’s girls ran its winning streak to begin the season to three with victories over Geronimo and Temple.
The Eagles split the two meetings as they dropped a 43-34 decision to Geronimo last Friday before downing Temple, 72-33, in a contest at Temple Tuesday night.
The Lady Eagles rallied for a 55-53 victory at Geronimo last Friday and on Tuesday night they romped to a 66-26 victory over Temple.
The Eagles and Lady Eagles will compete in the Southwest Shootout at Chattanooga beginning today.
The Lady Eagles were to have met Big Pasture this morning (Thursday) at 10:30 a.m. A win would send them to the semifinals at 3:50 p.m. on Friday. A loss would mean a 10:30 a.m. game on Friday.
The Eagles play this afternoon (Thursday) at 2:30 against Alex. If the Eagles win they would face the winner of Central High and Grandfield at 5:10 p.m. on Friday. A first-round loss by the Eagles would mean a consolation semifinal game at 11:50 a.m. on Friday.
The championship games are slated for 6:20 p.m. Saturday for the girls and 7:40 p.m. on Saturday for the boys. Third place games are at 3:10 and 5 p.m., while the consolation finals will be at 1 p.m. and 2:20 p.m.
After tourney action, Waurika will travel to Velma-Alma on Tuesday for a twinbill with the Comets and Lady Comets.
Waurika will continue its season one week from today by hosting Grandfield in the first home game of the season.
The Eagles and Lady Eagles hit the road again one week from Friday when they travel to Big Pasture to close out the schedule before Christmas break.
At Temple on Tuesday the Lady Eagles were never really challenged as they used a strong scoring performance on the inside to get the victory.
Waurika opened the game on a 15-5 run through the first quarter.
The Lady Eagles were able to increase the lead in the second quarter by outscoring the Lady Tigers, 14-8, giving Waurika a 29-13 advantage at the intermission.
The second half belonged to the Lady Eagles as they rolled to a 21-9 advantage in the third quarter to increase the lead to 50-22 heading into the final frame.
In the fourth quarter, Waurika continued the onslaught as they outscore the Lady Tigers, 16-4, to set the final margin.
Three Lady Eagles each had 14 points to fuel the offense. Liberti Simmons, Cassdie Berry and Jasmine Henry provided the spark for Waurika on the offensive end of the floor.
Waurika and Temple battled in the first quarter with the Eagles carving out a 15-12 advantage.
The Tigers would never be closer.
Waurika pounded the Tigers in the second quarter by outscoring Temple, 22-8. Treyton Torrez had 10 points in the quarter to help the Eagles’ surge
The Eagles opened the second half with a 9-2 run to increase the lead to 30 points.
That helped Waurika to outscore the Tigers in the third quarter, 27-6. Six different Eagles score in the third period.
The Eagles rested the starters for the fourth quarter, but still outscored the Tigers, 8-7, to close out the game.
Torrez had 24 points to pace the Eagles in scoring. Jake Smart added 14 tallies and Isaac Camarillo chipped in 11 points.
In last Friday’s game at Geronimo, the Lady Eagles fell behind early and spent the next three quarters of the game fighting back to take the lead and hang on for the win in the closing minutes.
Geronimo opened the game with an 8-0 run and the lead ballooned to 22-5 before Aubree Showalter nailed a three-pointer to bring the Lady Eagles to within 22-8.
The Lady Jays and Lady Eagles exchanged buckets before the end of the quarter and Geronimo held a 24-10 advantage.
The Lady Eagles finally got going in the last few minutes of the second quarter.
Geronimo held a 31-18 lead at the 2:33 mark, but the Lady Eagles went on a 6-0 run to close the half with three of those points coming on Simmons’ trey with only four seconds to play that cut the margin to 31-24.
Geronimo opened the third quarter with a pair of free throws and a layup to extend the advantage to 35-24 with 6:04 left in the third quarter.
The Lady Eagles put on a surge and outscored the Lady Blue Jays 11-2 from the 4:04 mark to 2:41 showing on the third quarter clock and that cut the Geronimo lead to 37-33.
Both teams scored five points in the remaining two minutes and Waurika headed to the fourth quarter with a four point deficit, 42-38.
The Lady Jays got the first bucket of the fourth quarter, but Waurika’s Simmons went on a five-point scoring spree that cut the deficit to 44-43.
Berry’s putback with 5:05 left in the game gave the Lady Eagles a 45-44 lead and they never trailed the rest of the way.
But, sealing the win was not easy despite Waurika building a 53-47 lead with 2:28 left when Simmons hit a pair of charity tosses.
Waurika managed only two free throws the remaining part of the quarter, but was able to hold Geronimo at bay.
The Lady Blue Jays connected on a layup with 57.3 seconds left to draw within two, but neither team could score the rest of the way.
Simmons led the Lady Eagles in scoring with 19 points, while Berry added 17 and Showalter tossed in 11 points.
One of the reasons for the Lady Eagles surge in the final three quarters was the edge in rebounding.
Geronimo outrebounded the Lady Eagles, 15-8, in the first quarter, but Waurika held a 40-20 edge on the boards in the final three quarters.
The nightcap was a struggle throughout, but Geronimo threatened to pull away in the second quarter.
The Eagles and Blue Jays battled in the first quarter on fairly even terms. A pair of free throws by Torrez tied the game at 5-5, but Geronimo went on a 6-2 run to close out the first quarter to gain an 11-7 advantage.
Geronimo opened the second quarter with a 6-0 run to increase the lead to 17-7.
Torrez scored the next seven points for the Eagles and that helped trim the margin to 20-14 with 3:25 left in the half.
The Eagles then hit a scoring drought and Geronimo outscored Waurika, 8-0, over the remainder of the half to secure a 28-14 lead.
At the 4:52 mark of the third quarter, the Blue Jays earned the biggest lead of the game at 36-19, but at this point the Eagles made an effort to get back into the game.
Malachi Dodson hit a jumper and Gavin Torrez hit one of two free throws and T. Torrez completed a traditional three-point play to bring the Eagles to within 10.
A layup by Geronimo’s Triston Scott put the lead back to 12 with 2:06 left in the quarter, but the Eagles went on another run with five straight points when Isaac Camarillo hit a layup and G. Torrez hit a three-pointer to leave Geronimo’s lead at 37-30 heading into the fourth quarter.
At the 7:15 mark of the fourth quarter, Eion Allen hit a short jumper to extend the Geronimo lead to 39-30.
At this point every time Geronimo got the ball they attempted to burn minutes off the clock. At one point, Geronimo held the ball for over two minutes before turning the ball over with 1:40 left in the game.
Smart connected on a layup and hit a free throw to pull Waurika within five points with 33.9 seconds left.
Geronimo gave the Eagles plenty of opportunity to close the gap as they hit only four of 10 free throws in the final half minute of the game, but the Eagles could not capitalize.
T. Torrez led the Eagles in scoring with 20 points, but he was the only player to score in double figures and only three other Eagles scored during the game.
Game Summaries
Waurika 66, Temple 26
(Girls)
Waurika 15 14 21 16—66
Temple 5 8 9 4—26
WAURIKA – Liberti Simmons 7-2-16, Jasmine Henry 7-0-14, Cassidie Berry 7-0-14, Bekah Mataska 3-0-8, Aubree Showalter 2-1-5, Alexia Henry 2-0-4, Rylee Torrez 1-0-3, Jaden Adams 1-0-2, Sadie Smith 1-0-2. TOTALS: 30-3-66. PF: 13. Three-pointers: Mataska 2, Torrez.
TEMPLE – N/A; TOTALS: 8- 6-26. PF: 6.
Waurika 72, Temple 33
(Boys)
Waurika 15 22 27 8—72
Temple 12 8 6 7—33
WAURIKA – Treyton Torrez 11-0-24, Jake Smart 5-3-14, Isaac Camarillo 5-0-11, Lucas Boyd 3-0-9, Malachi Dodson 3-0-8, Gavin Torrez 2-0-4, Cody Ramsey 1-0-2. TOTALS: 30-3-72. PF: 16. Three-pointers: Boyd 3, T. Torrez 2, Dodson 2, Camarillo, Smart.
TEMPLE – Robert Toquothty 7-4-18, Josh Hooper 3-0-7, Jacob Chumley 1-3-5, Nathan Lipscomb 1-1-3. TOTALS: 12-8-33. PF: 7. Three-pointers: Hooper, Toquothty.
Waurika 55, Geronimo 53
(Girls)
Waurika 10 14 14 17—55
Geronimo 24 7 11 11—53
WAURIKA – Liberti Simmons 4-9-19, Cassidie Berry 8-1-17, Aubree Showalter 3-3-11, Jasmine Henry 2-0-4, Jaden Adams 1-0-2, Jaci Gholson 0-1-1, Skylar Adams 0-1-1. TOTALS: 17-17-55. PF: 15. Three-pointers: Simmons 2, Showalter 2.
GERONIMO – Chrissa Come 6-0-13, McKenzie Huffman 4-2-12, Kailee Latimer 5-1-11, Astrid Leloup 2-0-5, Alison Daly 1-0-3, Brooke Bolling 4-1-9. TOTALS: 22-4-53. PF: 25. Three-pointers: Huffman 2, Daly, Gomez, Leloup.
Geronimo 43, Waurika 34
(Boys)
Waurika 7 7 16 4—34
Geronimo. 11 17 9 6—43
WAURIKA – Treyton Torrez 6-7-20, Jake Smart 2-1-6, Gavin Torrez 1-1-4, Malachi Dodson 2-0-4. TOTALS: 11-9-34. PF: 17. Three-pointers: T. Torrez, G. Torrez, Smart.
GERONIMO – Eion Allen 4-513, Triston Scott 3-2-9, Joseph McCarthy 2-0-6, Jayden Wallace 3-0-6, Connor Only 2-0-5, Erick Costellanos 2-0-4, TOTALS: 16-7-43. PF: 12. Three-pointers: McCarthy 2, Only, Scott.
