Sports

The Newcastle Ladycats played a late game matchup against the Holliday Lady Eagles, and despite another solid effort were not able to pick up the victory. 

The Ladycats fell 37-17 to the Lady Eagles after the matchup Friday, Dec. 12. 

After the first quarter, the Ladycats kept it competitive, trailing by just five points 9-4. 

Kenzie King and Emma Hawkins were the lone scorers in the quarter for the Ladycats with both players hitting midrange jumpshots. 

The Graham Steers are marching closer to regular season play with their first scrimmage match against the Sanger Indians. 

The Steers had a mixed performance, according to head coach Tim Wankowicz, but still were able to come out with a 1-1 tie. The game Friday, Dec. 12 started off a little shaky in the first half. 

Sanger immediately put pressure on Graham’s defense in the opening minutes of the first half and after a second chance opportunity were able to find the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead. 

The Newcastle Ladycats played a late game matchup against the Holliday Lady Eagles, and despite another solid effort were not able to pick up the victory. 

The Ladycats fell 37-17 to the Lady Eagles after the matchup Friday, Dec. 12. After the first quarter, the Ladycats kept it competitive, trailing by just five points 9-4. 

Kenzie King and Emma Hawkins were the lone scorers in the quarter for the Ladycats with both players hitting midrange jumpshots. 

The Lady Blues got their first taste of on-field action in a scrimmage match against Sanger, impressing the hometown crowd with an 8-0 victory over the Lady Indians.

Head coach Casey Weil said there was a lot to brag about from the game Friday, Dec. 12.

“To be able to come out and score eight goals—that’s very promising. If we can come out and put that many goals in, that makes us extremely happy and also to keep a clean sheet and not allow any goals,” Weil said.

Basketball season is in full swing for Graham and Newcastle and this past week two athletes for those teams shined. 

The Graham Leader is recognizing Camren Mallory of the Ladycats and Thomason Burkett of the Steers as this week’s Athletes of the Week. 

Camren Mallory, Ladycats Basketball 

The start of basketball season for the Ladycats has been an uphill battle with the team trying to find a new identity. 

The Graham Steers have been off to a strong start this season but took their first loss of the year against the Henrietta Bearcats by a final score of 63-39. 

With the loss, the Steers’ record moves to 4-1 on the season. 

“It’s the classic having to shake some football rust off and fit the pieces together. That’s really what it is,” head coach Quinton Fossett said. “We’ll be fine. We started the game executing a lot. It will come.” 

The Newcastle Bobcats continued their season with their first non-tournament matchup against the Nocona Indians. 

Unfortunately for the Bobcats, they were not able to pick up the victory losing 83-23. 

The matchup took place Tuesday, Dec. 9 and despite the loss there were still solid contributions offensively from the team. 

The Bobcats found themselves in a hole early trailing 24-9 after quarter one and 46-11 at halftime. 

Newcastle’s Allison Melton was named to the 2025-2026 Texas High School Coaches Association’s Super Elite Team and the Texas Girls Coaches Association All-State Team for cross country.

The THSCA awards honor student-athletes from across the state for their performance in the season. To be nominated a student must be a varsity athlete in good standing, demonstrate strong character and athletic performance and nominated by a head coach.

The Newcastle Bobcats opened their season this past week with a tournament in Whiteface. 

The Bobcats finished the three-day tournament with a 2-2 record. The tournament took place Thursday, Dec. 4 to Saturday, Dec. 6 and the Bobcats took on teams Sudan, Shallowater’s junior varsity team, Whiteface and New Deal. 

The Bobcats opened the tournament with two consecutive wins. The first win came over the Sudan Hornets, 42-36. 

However, the most exciting win for the Bobcats came over the Shallowater Mustangs in a back and forth battle, 57-54. 

The Lady Blues made a statement in Haskell this past weekend, winning two games during the three-day tournament. 

The tournament took place Thursday, Dec. 4 through Saturday, Dec. 6. During that time, the Lady Blues took on Coleman, Haskell, Quanah and Hermleigh. 

The Lady Blues’ first and highest scoring victory came against the Coleman Bluekatts. Graham won the game by a final score of 48-36.