Lady Mustangs Stumble in State Semifinals

Slocum Falls to Dodd City, 73-44

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

SAN ANTONIO – The Slocum Lady Mustangs made a return trip to the Alamo City on Thursday, March 1 to take on the Dodd City Lady Hornets in the Class 1A UIL State Basketball Semifinals. The Lady Mustangs came into the game with a record of 27-10 while the Lady Hornets came in with a 36-1 record and were ranked as the #2 team in the Class 1A division.

While Slocum started slow, they managed to cut a nine point deficit – after the first eight minutes of play – to four when Jessi Ives hit a three-pointer as the horn sounded to end the first half.

The Lady Mustangs whittled the lead down to one at the 6:46 mark of the third quarter and again at the 4:28 mark, as they trailed 34-33.

It was at that point, the Lady Hornets showed why they held such a lofty ranking as they used a 12-0 run to close out the third period of play and then coasted to a 73-44 victory.

As the game got underway, the Lady Mustangs struggled from the field as they only dropped in four first quarter points on twos from Taylor Clark and Jessi Ives.

The Dodd City points came from Paige Granstaff and Journie Hilliard with four apiece while Abby Weeks had three. Dani Baccus had the other two Lady Hornet points as

Dodd City led by a score of 13-4 after the first quarter.

Slocum began to chip away at the lead in the second quarter. Ives caught fire in the period as she knocked down eight. Shelby Bowman connected from behind the arc and a trio of Lady Mustangs – Clark, Jaidan Wickersham and Laney Lasiter – all had two which brought the score to 25-21 at the half.

Granstaff and Weeks continued to bedevil the Lady Mustangs as the duo both had four in the second quarter. Hilliard added three and Sarah Brent broke into the scoring column with one.

After the break, the Lady Mustangs tried to build on the momentum of Ives’ buzzer beater to end the first half. The Lady Hornets, however, came out of the locker room and quickly pushed their lead out to eight.

Slocum began to slice away at the Dodd City lead and when Jaiden

Wickersham hit a jumper at the 4:31 mark, the Lady Mustangs had whittled the deficit down to one and trailed 34-33.

Unfortunately, that was when the wheels fell off the Slocum bus. Following a Dodd City timeout, the Lady Hornets rattled off 12 consecutive points to close out the quarter with the score 46-33.

The Lady Mustangs were led in the quarter by Ives with seven, Clark with three and Wickersham with two.

The Dodd City points came from Granstaff with 12, Weeks with five as well as Baccus and Delaney Gilliod with two apiece.

Try as they might, Slocum simply could not catch up to the Lady Hornets in the fourth quarter as Dodd City pulled away to win by a final score of 73-44.

Ives paced the Lady Mustangs with six in the fourth quarter, while Wickersham had four and Clark chipped in one.

For the game, Dodd City was led in scoring by Paige Granstaff with a game-high 33 points. Journie Hilliard dropped in 13 and Abby Weeks had 12. Other scorers for the Lady Hornets included: Delaney Pilliod with six, Danni Baccus with four; Sarah Brent with three and Marissa Mills with two.

Slocum was led by Jessi Ives with 23 points. Taylor Clark and Jaidan Wickersham both knocked down eight while Shelby Bowman had three. Laney Lasiter rounded out the Lady Mustangs’ point production with two.

Despite the loss, the Lady Mustangs had a special season and should be congratulated for their accomplishments this year.

PHOTOS COURTESY of STEPHANIE LIMERICK

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