By Allen Hamrick
The Lady Mustangs met their Waterloo this past week as they came face to face with a juggernaut as they took on the Lady Bears of Summersville. The Lady Bears brought their big game to the courts against the Lady Mustangs, and it was game on. First up, though, was the JV team who got the fans on the edge of their seats with some last minute power playing. Yeah, the score wasn’t going to be on the sports news, but it did not lack for dramatic play. Kinley Ramsey hit a hope shot in the fourth period to take the lead in the game by one point with just a couple of minutes on the boards. However, late in the 4th period, the Lady Bears drew a foul and sunk both shots from the cheat line putting them ahead by two. The Lady Mustangs drove down the court with just seconds left on the clock for one final attempt, but the ball went wide left and the sand run out of the hour glass for the JV team. The final score was 15-16.
The varsity team hit the courts, and, in practice, looked like they would be the team to beat. However, the Lady Bears had a plan. The Lady Mustangs may as well have tried to empty the Elk River with a five gallon bucket when play got underway. The Lady Bears started the full court press from Hades; the Lady Mustangs were boxed in soon as they left the bench it seemed. The Lady Mustangs did manage to elude the press at times and did convert their energy into points. That being said, the Lady Bears ate up more turnovers than grandma’s kitchen could produce and racked up the points on the board. The Lady Mustangs just couldn’t get a plan of attack to overcome the full court press of the Lady Bears and went down swinging. The final score was 13-44. Top shot in the game was Payton Johnson with 11.
The Mustang boys locked horns with the Bears at home. The Bears came out with some quick offense and were loading up their side of the score board quick. The Bears’ pressure threw the Mustangs’ offense out of sync and held them to just 12 points in the first half; the Bears led 12 -26 at the half. After a pep talk in the locker room, the Mustangs offense picked up the pace and went bucket for bucket with the Bears but gained no real estate on the boards. Every time these two teams meet, it promises to be a barn burner, and it was. In the 4th period, both defenses settled down to some tough basketball, and the offenses went into no man’s land on the boards. The Mustangs and the Bears scored little in the fourth and the final score was 33-47. Top shot in this game was Joel Elliott with 12 followed close by Devon Griffin with 8.
The teams will be back in action this week and so will the Panther team, that is if the weather doesn’t put a chill on the events. Check the schedules and the schools for information. The Panther wrestling team will be at the Braxton for the Region Quad match on January 18. The CWVAC tournament for the Mustangs wrestling team was rescheduled for February 3rd, and they will be hitting the mats this week at Elkview on Thursday. Come out and support the teams.
