BRECKENRIDGE – On the strength of a 15-3 run to end the first half and start the second, the No. 8 May Lady Tigers flipped the momentum – and kept it – en route to a 40-32 Region II-A area round victory over the No. 15 Munday Mogulettes Monday.
With the win, District 13-A co-champion May (22-4) will advance to the Region II-A quarterfinals to face District 14 champion and 13th-ranked Westbrook (23-4), a 60-27 area round winner over Roby, at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Winters.
“Just like every game this year they played with grit,” said May head coach Derek Stevens. “That’s our motto this year, GRIT – Growth, Response, Intensity and Tough on the court. Once again they showed that. Things weren’t going right for us a lot as far as shooting, we haven’t got back in a groove on our threes. And we made some passes tonight in my opinion that were junior high-like. But we’ll go back and fix it next practice.”
Roberta Robinette led the Lady Tigers with 16 points followed by Reese Chambers with 10, Brianna Steele with eight, Lexi Fox with four, and Melanie Murphree with two points.
“Our engine is Reese and Roberta and I think everybody knows that, they’re the spark plugs of the team and if one’s gone we dip a little bit,” Stevens said. “I get frustrated when coaches scout us and say you’ve got two good players and that makes me mad because I know the potential of all the players, and I try to feed them that motivation every week. They step up and do their job and continue to work hard and at times they show up, at times they don’t, but they’re going to bust their tails and as a coach that’s all you can ask for on the court. They’re going to try and do things the right way and they’re going to do it to the best of their ability and I think that’s what all our kids do.”
District 16-A champion Munday (23-4) received 13 points from Allie Willison, eight from Alexa Vega, five each from Karley Myers and Carlie Willison, and one point from Stephanie Scott.
The Lady Tigers were coming off Friday’s 44-35 win over Highland in the bi-district round, while Munday last played Feb. 9 – which Stevens felt was a key factor in the victory, and the swing of momentum.
“I count the weather last week as a blessing,” Stevens said. “I was ready to play against Highland pretty early and it kept getting pushed back and pushed back. My wife, being the person she is, she keeps me strong-minded and she said this could be playing in our favor. Munday has not played a game since Feb. 9, so I knew their legs weren’t going to be there and it showed a lot. They’re a good shooting team, but they missed a lot of threes and didn’t shoot well. I think that was a key factor in that run.”
Trailing 15-10 with 5:04 left in the first half, the Lady Tigers reeled off seven straight points to regain a 17-15 lead with 47 seconds remaining in the second period – May’s first advantage since the 4:11 mark of the first quarter. A pair of buckets from Steele closed the gap to one, then Robinette put May on top, 16-15, and later added a free throw.
Munday reclaimed an 18-17 edge on a three-pointer by Allie Willison, but Robinette scored in the paint with nine seconds left to give May a 19-18 halftime edge.
The Lady Tigers then tallied the first six points of the third period – buckets by Robinette, Fox and Chambers – to pad the cushion to 25-18 as Munday was held scoreless the first 3:26 of the second half.
May’s lead remained between five and nine points – peaking at 36-27 with 7:36 left in the game – despite Lady Tiger point guard Chambers collecting her fourth foul with 1:53 to go in the third. After a 3:41 break, Chambers returned to the court with 6:12 remaining and finished the contest.
“Reese is a key part of our team and anybody that watches us knows that,” Stevens said. “When she goes out I’m happy that I have players that want to step up and try to be that player. She’s very important to our team, but when you have people that step up and come off the bench and do their job, that makes a big difference and that’s why we’re going on the third round.”
The Lady Tigers committed seven of their 21 turnovers in the fourth quarter, while forcing just 11 for the game, but sank 10 of 12 free throws while Munday hit just 9 of 17.
Also Monday night, the May Tigers chalked up a 56-55 overtime victory over Hermleigh in boys bi-district basketball action. With the win, May advances to face District 15 champion Knox City at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Winters – the second half of a doubleheader with the Lady Tigers.
