Second Half Shooting Woes Doom Lady Cats

Palestine Falls to Madisonville, 50-34

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

 PALESTINE – It was a tale of two halves on Friday, Jan. 25 as the Palestine Lady Cats welcomed the Madisonville Lady Mustangs to town for a District 18-4A matchup.

The Friday night game would go a long way in determining the playoff seeding as the girls’ district season begins to wind down. The Lady Mustangs came in to the matchup with a 2-3 district record while the Lady Cats held a 1-4 mark.

As the game got underway, it appeared as if the Lady Cats might move into a third place tie with the Lady Mustangs. However, Palestine went ice-cold from the field in the second half while Madisonville stayed consistent and managed to pick up a come-from-behind 50-34 win.

The Lady Cats started quick and opened up a 12-9 first quarter lead on seven points from Destiny Mathews and five from Jaila Cook.

Madisonville’s first quarter points came from Khyra Cooper with three as a trio of Lady Mustangs – Shakayla Burns, Latayvia Byrd and Tyleesia Byrd – all had two.

Palestine continued to hold Madisonville in check and opened up a five point lead by the end of the second quarter. Cook and Mathews both dropped in five while Jessie Storment knocked down a three and Lex Calhoun netted a two which gave the Lady Cats a 27-22 halftime advantage.

Roundtree led the second quarter scoring for Madisonville with seven. Burns added four and Byrd had a bucket to close out the Lady Mustangs’ first half point production.

Following the break, the Lady Cats’ went ice cold as they only managed four points in the third quarter on twos from Cook and Mathews.

The Lady Mustangs seized the opportunity to gallop into the lead and once there, they never looked back. Cooper scored six, Byrd had three and both Burns, along with Roundtree, had two which gave Madisonville a 35-31 lead after three quarters of play.

Things got worse in the final eight minutes of play for Palestine as their shots would simply not fall. Cook scored two and Mathews made one of two from the line to account for the Lady Cats only fourth quarter points.

With Palestine struggling from the field, Madisonville began to pull away. Burns paced the Lady Mustangs with eight points in the quarter. Daiona Johnson dropped in four, Roundtree had two and Byrd added one to make the final score 50-34, in favor of Madisonville.

For the game, the Lady Mustangs were led by Shakayla Burns with 16 points. Tyleesia Roundtree added 13, Khyra Cooper netted 10, Latayvia Byrd had seven and Daiona Johnson chipped in four.

The Lady Cats were led in scoring by Destiny Mathews with 15 and Jaila Cook with 14 points. Jessie Storment knocked down a three and Lex Calhoun had two points to round out the Palestine scoring.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].