The Higgins Lady Coyotes won the school’s first ever area championship by holding off Wildorado 63-57 at McNeely Field house in Pampa on Friday. [Tom Carver/ Press Pass Sports]
History made
The dream season for Higgins continued Friday night in Pampa, as the Lady Coyotes knocked off Wildorado 63-57 for the school’s first area round win since beating Groom in 1984.
Playing in their first area round game since 1988, Higgins was able to secure the momentum down the stretch outscoring the Lady Mustangs 21-13 in the fourth quarter. Lady Coyotes senior standout Cara Watson led the way during the historic victory with 15 points, followed by Matty King’s 14.
Higgins (21-3) now faces No. 1-ranked Nazareth (26-8) in the a Class 1A regional quarterfinal at a time and place to be determined.
Thrillers
Both Palo Duro and Clarendon showed a flair for the dramatics in the area round Friday night.
For a second straight game, the Lady Dons used a late bucket, this time in overtime to get past El Paso Burges, 51-49, in a Class 5A area contest in Kermit. Palo Duro’s Sh’Heneci Matthews played the hero hitting the game-winning shot with three seconds to go. Palo Duro (17-17) has won its first two playoff games by a combined four points. The Lady Dons move on to face district foe and No. 1 Amarillo High (34-2) in a regional quarterfinal Tuesday at the Tascosa Activity Center. The Lady Sandies dismantled El Paso Eastlake, 69-28, Friday.
Not to be outdone, the Clarendon Lady Broncos also pulled off a thriller on a Jade Benson buzzer beater to down New Deal 41-40 during a Class 2A area round contest at Canyon High School. Benson went on to lead the Lady Broncos with a game-high 16 points.
Clarendon (22-11) meets up with district rival Panhandle (29-5) at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Tascosa Activity Center.
Friday’s top performers
Palo Duro’s Shonda Stiger tallied 17 points to lead the Lady Dons to an overtime victory against El Paso Burges.
Hereford’s Taytum Stow and Nayeli Acosta each poured in 12 points as Hereford downed San Elizario 53-49 in a Class 4A area round matchup.
Kaeona Marquez helped Dalhart to its first area round win in six years by scoring 17 points during a 55-48 victory against Mountain View.
Emily Bradley of White Deer was a mismatch for Valley, scoring 20 points during a 57-38 area win.
Boys seeding game update
Canyon used a big fourth quarter to get past Levelland 43-26 and claim the top spot out of District 3-4A in a first place seeding game Friday night in Dimmitt.
Leading 24-20 after three quarters, the Eagles pulled away with a dominating final eight minutes, outscoring the Lobos 19-6. Joe Shaw paced Canyon (20-11) with 18 points. The Eagles will take on four-seed Perryton from District 4-4A at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night in Panhandle.
Girls area scoreboard
Class 6A
Tascosa 10 31 50 60
L.D. Bell 26 44 58 79
T— Jessalyn Gonzales 20, Jada Miller 12. LD– Kyla Davis 26, Hallie Rhodes 14, Jayden Rhodes 14. Records: Tascosa 25-11; L.D. Bell 31-3.
Class 5A
El Paso Eastlake 7 11 23 28
Amarillo High 18 36 52 69
EE— Z. Herrera 15, C. Vovilla 6. AHS— Briley Barnes 12, Zayla Tinner 11. Records: Eastlake 27-6; AHS 34-2.
Palo Duro 13 20 33 40 51
El Paso Burges 10-20 27 40 49
PD— Shonda Stiger 17, Aleea Miller 10. EP— Brianna Vargas 23. Records: Palo Duro 17-17; EP Burgess 20-10.
Class 4A
Hereford 18 33 39 53
San Elizario 11 26 38 49
SE— Camila Contreras 17 Lillie Skiles 13. Taytum Stow 12 Nayeli Acosta 12. Records: San Elizario 29-4; Hereford 23-9.
Dalhart 8 27 40 55
Mount. View 12 21 29 48
D— Kaeona Marquez 17, Cristal Davila 12, Caryce Guerrero 10. Records: Dalhart 26-9, Mountain View 18-8.
Class 3A
Ballinger 7 19 24 37
Bushland 14 26 46 60
Bal— Delgado 13, Battle 12. B— Morgan 17, Troxell 14, Shultz 12, Homfeld 11. Records: Ballinger 21-11; Bushland 22-9.
Childress 11 17 27 34
Jim Ned 16 23 31 47
C— Grace Foster 10, Chloe Teichelman 10. JN— Graham 15, Galvin 9.
Class 2A
Clarendon 6 16 28 41
New Deal 7 19 25 40
C— Benson 16, Crawford 8. ND— Vasquez 12, Garland 9. Records: Clarendon 22-11; New Deal 21-13.
Class 1A
Higgins 11 33 42 63
Wildorado 9 27 44 57
H— Cara Watson 15, Matty King 14. W— Milana Evers 18. Records: Higgins 21-3; Wildorado 16-12.
Happy 6 13 20 27
Claude 12 26 35 51
H— Kenli Johnson 9. C— Rene Fouquet 14, Maddox Scoggins 13. Records: Happy 19-16; Claude 28-5.
Valley 8 21 30 38
White Deer 16 32 40 57
V— Smith 15. W— Bradley 20, Haiduk 13, Forney 10. Records: Valley 15-5; White Deer 17-15.
Boys seeding games
District 3-4A
First place game
Levelland 4 13 20 26
Canyon 12 15 24 43
L— Bryant White 14. C— Joe Shaw 18. Records: Levelland 24-9; Canyon 20-11.
District 3-2A
Second place game
Farwell 11 24 37 47
Olton 7 19 29 42
F— Jonathan Mora 22. O— Jack Allcorn 10, Brian Capen 10. Records: Farwell 22-10; Olton 17-13.
Fourth place game
Sudan defeats Bovina 53-41
