They were separated by two spaces in both the District 3-5A standings and the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Class 5A state rankings two days before Christmas, which it turned out, wasn’t by all that much.

After Tuesday afternoon at the Tascosa Activity Center, the Tascosa Lady Rebels and Amarillo High Lady Sandies were much closer than that.

Taking the No. 8 ranking in the state and sole possession of the district lead to No. 10 Tascosa’s home floor, Amarillo High had the slightest of all upper hands. It was even slighter after the Lady Rebels took control in the second half and outlasted the Lady Sandies for a 45-35 victory.

While Amarillo High maintained sole possession of the district lead, it was only by a half-game over Lubbock Monterey and Tascosa (15-2, 4-1 in district). Expect a similar game between the two teams when they meet again in January at Amarillo High.

As the final score indicates, neither team had a vintage offensive performance, which was particularly pronounced in the first half. Both teams appeared a bit skittish offensively, as Amarillo High clung to an 18-17 lead heading into the locker room.

“It’s a huge game Amarillo High-Tascosa, so you really don’t have to try very hard to get up for this one and feel the emotions of it,” said Tascosa coach Zac Tabor, coaching in his first Tascosa-AHS showdown. “We had our biggest crowd of the year and I think our kids were very wound up feeding off that energy. It kind of had us playing tight and at halftime we just took a minute to breathe and reset, and fortunately we hit some shots to start the third quarter.”

Neither team led by more than five points in the first half, and the Lady Rebels took some momentum into halftime when Devaeh Johnson converted a three-point play to cut Amarillo High’s lead to a point.

Tascosa took a 19-18 lead to start the third quarter on a drive by Nic’Kiyah Fisher, who went scoreless in the first half but came up big in the second half. The Lady Rebels never trailed again after that.

That’s a position they’ve gotten used to this season. Tascosa had just one loss prior to last Friday’s 71-54 defeat at No. 9 Monterey which taught the Lady Rebels a lesson in humility and gave them incentive against the Lady Sandies (17-4, 5-1), as if they needed it.

“I think it motivated us,” Tabor said. “A loss is a great chance to refocus and look at some things and make yourself new again. We needed to go back to being a fundamental defensive team and take care of the ball and that’s what we were able to do today.”

Tascosa led by as many as 13 points, going up 38-25 to start the fourth quarter. Amarillo High scored eight straight points and was threatening, but the Lady Sandies got no closer.

It was obviously a very satisfying debut in the Tascosa-AHS rivalry for Tabor.

“They’re a really, really good program and Jeff (Williams) is a great coach who does a great job with them,” Tabor said of the Lady Sandies. “They’re very talented and well-coached. Going into the game people said it’s going to be loud and be like no other game so far this year, and that’s exactly what it was.”

The Lady Rebels won despite the fact they hand only four players score. Johnson and Kenzee Dickson both had a game-high 14 points, as Dickson kept the Lady Rebels in it in the first half with nine points.

Kam Soukup, who scored 40 in last week’s rout of Lubbock High, was Amarillo High’s lone scorer in double digits with 10 points.

Monday and Tuesday’s girls’ district scores

District 3-5A

Tascosa 45, Amarillo High 35
Palo Duro 83, Caprock 20
Lubbock-Cooper 75, Lubbock High 34
Plainview 41, Lubbock Coronado 37

District 4-4A 

Borger 62, Pampa 51 
Randall 37, Dumas, 23
Hereford 52, West Plains 32
Canyon 69, Borger 19

District 2-3A 

Idalou 81, Friona 20 
Muleshoe 64, Lubbock Talkington 15 
Shallowater 85, Lubbock Roosevelt 30 
Slaton 56, Littlefield 46

District 2-2A

Panhandle 69, Wheeler 19 
Wellington 78, Memphis 24
Clarendon 67, Quanah 19