Sports

The Graham Lady Blues ended the year with a bang by winning their last game during the Aggieland Invitational on Dec. 28 in College Station.

In one of the largest basketball tournaments in the state Graham was able to notch a pair of wins before district play began during the first week of January.

The Lady Blues opened the tournament with a win before dropping two close games.

Graham 30,

Lovelady 24

A strong defensive effort in their first game gave the team a nice win over a quality 2A opponent.

Playing in its fifth game in the span of five days, the Graham Steers looked a bit tired throughout their non-district game against Brownwood last Monday afternoon. Even though the Steers didn’t put together one of their more balanced games, the team still had a fighting chance entering the fourth quarter. However, the visiting Lions absolutely owned the final period leading to a 72-55 win over Graham.

2018 proved to be a season in which J.D. Brice will remember for a long time.

The Newcastle running back helped guide the Bobcats to a district title after the team struggled mightily in 2017.

This week Brice was named the Times Record News Super Six Most Valuable Player according to the Wichita Falls publication.

Under first-year head coach Julian Menchaca took over as the man in charge over the offseason and made his presence felt immediately.

The former Aspermont coach was tabbed as the ...

With the calendar set to turn over to a new year in a few days, The Graham Leader takes a look back at some of the best games from this past year. 2018 proved to be another successful athletic period for our area teams. Several of the games of 2018 went down to the wire while some contests were one-sided affairs that led to a string of wins to follow. One thing is for sure, if 2019 is able to live up to the games we saw in 2018 then the new year will bring lots of thrilling finishes.

Fresh off their first appearance in two state polls the Graham Steers boys basketball team continued to play winning basketball over the Christmas holiday. The Steers dropped their first game of the Fredericksburg Roundball Reunion Tournament on Thursday before reeling off consecutive victories to end their stay. Graham is scheduled to face Argyle on the road this Friday afternoon, Jan. 4.

Fredericksburg 59, Graham 56

Seventeen Graham Steers landed on one of three All-District 3-4A Division II teams following the team’s district champion season in 2018. Once the Iowa Park Hawks were eliminated in the state semifinal round of the playoffs on Dec. 14, the selections were announced. After graduating nearly its entire roster from the 2017 state semifinal team, the Steers had to reload and put together almost a completely new roster.

How did they respond?

Nothing came easy Tuesday for the Graham varsity boys basketball team.

The Steers had to work for every basket, every free throw and ever rebound. All while holding a surging Holliday team at bay for most of the first half. In the end, the Steers rallied in the second half to pull out a thrilling 55-54 victory at Graham High School gymnasium.

The Steers trailed for most of the entire game until a furious comeback made possible by the play of Marc Tate and Evan Ranger.

Graham took their first lead of the game on a Ranger ...

The Christmas break will be a little bit sweeter for the Graham Lady Blues. The varsity team ensured that they would go into a break with a merry feeling, as they left cruised to a 68-45 win over Holliday Tuesday.

After struggling to make shots in their last game, the Lady Blues made a statement in a big way over a quality Class 3A opponent. The squad dealt Holliday their largest defeat of the season. Every player on the Graham roster managed to score at least one point.

The Graham Junior High School girls basketball team is peaking at the right moment. With the midway point of their schedule concluding this past week, there is no question that the team should be fun to watch down the stretch.

Wichita Falls Barwise

The 8th-grade A team took on Barwise on Monday at home and used a strong second-half performance to run away with a 22-14 win.

“The girls did a good job of making adjustments after the half,” said coach Shannon Weaver. “They did everything that was asked of them plus some. It was a fun game to coach.”

Sydney Davidson made a splash last Wednesday when she officially put pen to paper on her college decision. The piece of paper was her National Letter of Intent to play volleyball for Cisco College for next season. The entire Bryson school along with family was there inside Bryson’s gymnasium to witness the event. When head coach Chelsea Kincaid arrived in Bryson three years ago, the first person she met was Davidson.