Karen Boehler
CCSR writer/editor
Gateway's Grace Nobles lays in two of her game high 23 points.
(CCSR photo by Arnold J. Roe)
After staying close for about 17 minutes of a 24-minute game, the Lady Warriors finally wore down the seven-player Valley Christian team to take a 54-41 District 7A victory over the Lions.
At least, that’s what Warrior coach Lezlie Gill thought.
“The difference was we have more girls on the bench, so we had to go man-to-man and wear ’em down,” she said. “They’re a good team and they are well coached, we just have more on the bench that we can work with.”
VCA coach Mary Jo Gray had a different take on things.
“We played crummy and they beat us,” was her only comment.
While Gateway (9-10, 2-2) definitely looked sharp, Valley (3-9, 1-3) didn’t look all that bad initially, trailing only 10-6 after one and closing the gap to 21-20 heading into the locker room.
Valley's Arielle Breedyke shoots over Robrena Wade and gets two of her team high 11 points.
(CCSR photo by Arnold J. Roe)
There were three lead changes in the first quarter, and five in the second, with Gateway trailing 20-18 before Lindzey Gill hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining to take the slim one-point edge.
Dangela Parsons gave the Lions their last lead of the game with a field goal to open the third, but then Warrior Grace Nobles caught fire, scoring the first five points of the stanza and 10 of her game-high 24 points to stretch the lead to 37-27 after three.
The biggest problem for Gateway in the second half was fouls. While neither team was even near the bonus in the first half, Warriors fouls put Valley in the bonus with just under a minute left in the third and the double bonus less than three minutes into the fourth.
So while Gateway had 14 team fouls to Valley’s six, the Lions couldn’t take advantage of their time at the line, shooting only 11-of-25 for the game.
Coach Gill said the fouls were a bit excessive.
“We never run fouls up like that, but I think that’s the sacrifice we had to make in order to wear them down,” she said.
Besides wearing the Lions down, the Warriors also did a good job of keeping Parsons away from the basket.
The senior only scored 10 points — Arielle Breedyk led the Lions with 11 — and a lot of that was due to Nobles, who stuck with Parsons like glue.
“Grace is very sharp,” Gill said. “She’s great offensively; great defensively. She’s aggressive. She fouls but they’re not stupid fouls.”
Nobles said it wasn’t all her doing.
“It was more of a team thing,” she said. “We all worked together.”
Both teams get one more pass through the district, with Valley getting back in action Friday against district leader Tatum.
Gateway travels across town to face NMMI in a non-district game Thursday, then travels to Lake Arthur Friday.
For more sports news, go to Chaves County Sports Report