Temperatures are dropping but for the Steers and Lady Blues basketball teams, they continue to stay hot on the court.
This past week the teams combined to win three out of four games, with a couple of those games coming by large margins. Both teams are on a well-deserved holiday break now for some time, but they’ve been showing up and showing out all season.
The Graham Lady Blues started strong and never looked back Monday, Dec. 18 as they rolled to a 60-23 win over the Big Spring Lady Steers.
Graham controlled the opening tip-off and immediately went to work, as the Lady Blues dominated all aspects of the game en route to the win. The victory came on the back of a narrow one-point win a few days prior.
The two teams met on a neutral court at Clyde High School but the location didn’t matter for the Lady Blues. They executed their offense at a high level and put up a season-high 60 points.
One week had passed since Graham and Iowa Park went to overtime in their match-up during the Red, White & Blue tournament where the Hawks pulled out the win in the extra period.
Unfortunately, the result wasn’t as close the second time these two teams matched up Friday, Dec. 15, this time in Iowa Park. The Steers got off to a slow start in the game and couldn’t overcome the Hawks’ effort as they took the loss 60-45.
Although their season ended with a disappointing, hard-fought loss in the second round of the playoffs, the Newcastle Bobcats had plenty of reasons to be proud as they had multiple players selected to All-Region teams for their performances.
With the conclusion of the football championship last week, there’s now an opportunity for more postseason honors. In Class 1A Division 2, Region 2, Newcastle players and coaches were rewarded for their efforts.
The result came down to the remaining seconds but the outcome ended up in Graham’s favor as the Lady Blues held on for a nail-biting 40-39 win over Seymour.
With just a few minutes left in the game Saturday, Dec. 16 the Lady Blues led the visiting Lady Panthers 40-32. It was the largest lead of the game for either team at that point, in what had been a true back-and-forth affair.
But Seymour deployed a full-court press defense that caused problems for Graham’s offense and which led to the Lady Panthers’ final charge for the comeback.
There came a point during the Ladycats’ 50-9 district-opening win over Bryson that it looked like the home team was going to hold the visitors scoreless.
It wasn’t until less than a minute remained in the first half that the Cowgirls found a slim opening in the Newcastle defense and managed a layup to get their first points of the night. The Ladycats had started the game with 37 unanswered points up until that moment in time.
Both teams got off to hot starts but it was the Newcastle Bobcats who stayed consistent throughout the game as they dominated the Ranger Bulldogs 77-37 this week.
Playing in front of their home crowd Tuesday, Dec. 12 the Bobcats scored early and often while improving their defense throughout the game in the win. Newcastle led 27-18 by halftime but went on to control the rest of the way in the 40-point lopsided victory.
The calendar continues to inch towards a winter break for students in Young County but for many student-athletes the competition keeps coming.
Such was the case for the Graham and Newcastle basketball teams this past week. The early part of the season brings a lot of tournament opportunities for teams to get multiple games in against strong competition in a short amount of time.
But whether it’s in a tournament format or just a standalone game, every match-up is important and contributes to the overall records of the teams.
It was another tournament weekend for Graham’s basketball teams. While the Steers stayed home to host a tourney, the Lady Blues hit the road and competed at the Hillsboro tourney over the weekend of Dec. 7-9.
Over the course of the three days the Lady Blues played five games and came away with a winning 3-2 record in those contests. Graham’s girls continue to fight hard in every game and improve as the season progresses.
The results of all five of their games listed below.
Lady Blues v. Maypearl (L), 59-14
Graham High School played host to its annual Red, White & Blue tournament this past weekend as 14 other teams in addition to the Steers competed against each other for a championship.
The Steers fought hard in every game and finished 7th place out of the 15 teams in this year’s field. The Hereford Whitefaces claimed 1st place while the Wichita Falls Old High Coyotes were the runners-up.
Listed below are the results from each of Graham’s games as the Steers went 2-3 over the course of the three-day tournament.
