Sunday, May 5, 2024
Thanks to a gutsy 44-42 overtime win over China Spring on Jan. 27, the Gatesville girls basketball team is still very much in the thick of the playoff race with two games remaining in the regular season.
On Jan. 30, Gatesville nearly pulled off an upset of No. 19 Connally falling 53-42 to the Lady Cadets in a game that was much closer than the final score would indicate.
After falling behind 17-10 after the first quarter, Gatesville battled back and trimmed the Lady Cadet lead to 28-25 at the half.
After a back-and-forth third quarter, Gatesville (12-19) cut the Connally lead to three points on back-to-back buckets from Emma Pollard. The sophomore center hit an acrobatic reverse layup to make it 45-38 then scored on a coast-to-coast layup to make it 45-42.
Nursing a narrow lead, Connally employed a stall on the offensive end leading to long stretches without a shot attempt. The Lady Cadets did not score their first points of the fourth quarter until a free throw with 4:06 to play and did not convert a field goal until a jumper with 2:26 to play.
Over the final two minutes of play, Connally turned a four-point lead into an 11-point win thanks to four free throws and two field goals.
Pollard poured in a game-high 26 points including nine field goals and eight made free throws. Senior Taylor Coward scored eight points while Paige Sentillas had four points. Yasmin Sanders and Taylor Sanderson each had two points in the loss.
In the thrilling win at China Spring, the Hornets held a 34-31 lead at the end of regulation but Abby Norris banked in a deep three-pointer with 5.1 seconds left to tie the game at 34-34. Sentillas was able to get away from China Spring’s full-court pressure and launched a 30-footer that just missed and sent the game to overtime.
Norris connected from three again to open the overtime period and give China Spring a 37-34 lead, but a offensive rebound and putback from Coward made it 37-36. Following defensive stop, Coward connected on one of two free throw attempts to tie the game at 37-37.
Norris hit a short jumper with 2:34 remaining to give China Spring a 39-37 lead, but Pollard quickly made two free throws of her own to tie the game again, this time at 39-39.
Gatesville took the lead for good when Coward buried a three-pointer and a 42-39 lead with 2:02 to play. Sanderson pushed the lead to 43-39 with 24 second left, but Norris hit from three again to make it 43-42 with 9 second to play. Norris finished with 23 points – 21 of which came in the second half and overtime.
Sentillas hit a free throw to make the lead 44-42. Then Yasmin Sanders forced a jump ball on China Springs’ final effort to tie the game giving the ball – and the win – to Gatesville.
Coward had 19 points in the win while Pollard had 11. Sentillas and Sanderson each chipped in four points. Gatesville hosts Salado on Feb. 2 in their final home game of the season, then wraps the regular season at No. 2 La Vega on Feb. 6.
The Lady Hornets best route to the postseason would include a win in one or both of their final two games or a Robinson victory of China Spring. That would force a three-way tie between Robinson, China Spring, and Gatesville for the final playoff spot. A tie-breaker is to be determined.
