Lady Blues keep winning with victory over Trojanettes

Just a few days removed from a strong performance in the Haskell tournament, the Lady Blues continued their winning December with a 47-32 victory on the road at Windthorst.

The win put Graham above .500 on the season with an 8-7 record as the team nears the end of the non-district schedule. After this weekend’s tournament in Lubbock, the Lady Blues will have two remaining scheduled non-district games before they enter district play in the first week of the new year.

This past Tuesday, Dec. 10, the Lady Blues traveled up the road for a match-up with the Windthorst Trojanettes where they put together a complete game in a 15-point win. It was a balanced performance of offense and defense for Graham’s girls.

But despite the large gap in the final score, the home team came out with a strong first quarter performance. The Trojanettes hit a 3-pointer in the first period and made a few other shots inside the arc to take an 11-8 lead after one quarter.

Graham moved the ball around, getting points from four different players in the first quarter. That offensive sharing continued into the second period where the Lady Blues’ offense had its best showing of the game.

Addyson Weaver found the bottom of the net first as she cut inside and made a layup off a nice pass from Fayth Bryer. Rebecca McGregor scored a couple more points a bit later when she collected an offensive rebound off her own missed shot and put up another layup.

Bryer scored almost the exact same way, securing her own rebound and putting up two points. Six different players scored points in the second quarter, with all of them coming from close range or at the free throw line.

Despite Windthorst converting another 3-pointer in the second quarter and scoring a few more points against Graham’s defense, the Lady Blues took a 23-20 lead into halftime.

It took both offenses some time to get things going at the start of the second half. Graham had multiple chances, especially due to the fact the Lady Blues hauled in a few offensive rebounds on different trips down the floor. But the shots weren’t quite falling, as the Trojanettes held their ground on the putback attempts.

“(We got) a lot of offensive and defensive boards. It’s great, great, great,” head coach Baylee Thompson said. “I love whenever we outrebound the other team. (In the last several games) we’ve outrebounded every other team except for Seymour.”

Eventually, McGregor got the team on the board to start the third quarter after some solid interior passes from Briley Randall to Weaver to McGregor for the easy layup to make it 25-20.

McGregor later stole a ball and took it the length of the court with a tough finish for another two points to push Graham’s lead. The Lady Blues’ offense as a whole came together in the third quarter while the defense stifled the Trojanettes.

Graham outscored Windthorst 13-5 in the third quarter to take a 36-25 lead heading into the fourth. It was a deficit that seemed insurmountable for the home team given the excellent play of Graham’s girls on both sides of the ball.

In this game, the Lady Blues didn’t record a single 3-pointer as all of their scoring came from close range layups, short jump shots or free throws. But the team was able to find holes in Windthorst’s defense to get the right looks at the basket for points.

The Trojanettes had multiple 3-pointers in the game but couldn’t find a consistent offense to overcome the gap. 

Graham held on for a comfortable win and one that provided more valuable experience for this Lady Blues team.

Randall led the team in scoring with 14 points in this game followed by McGregor and Bryer who each finished with 8 points. Katie McGehee and Weaver added 7 points apiece while Hallie Gough had 2 points and Mayci Ryans had 1 point.

“They just played really well together and as a team today. They were moving the ball up the floor in transition and we got a lot of shots off,” Thompson said.