The Lady Cubs showed everyone why they are state ranked last weekend in the 61st Annual Caprock Basketball Tournament. The largest basketball tournament in the country began in Lubbock on Thursday, December 26 and the Ladies started off in fine fashion with 107-12 victory over Alpine.
The Ladies played a near perfect game. Dabria Blackwell led in scoring with 39 points. Gabi Fields had 22 points.
On Friday, the Lady Cubs faced Miami and the result was much the same. The Ladies took the lead and never looked back, on their way to defeating Miami by a score of 65-16. Dabria once again led all scorers with 16 and Gabi followed up with 16. Lindsey Herrera, the little 5 foot ball handler, pitched in nine on the afternoon.
Friday afternoon found the Ladies facing a much tougher foe in Merkel in the quarterfinals. The Lady Cubs were once again the victors by a score of 51-34. Gabi was good for 12 in this game, with Lindsey following up with 11.
Saturday morning was semi-finals day and the Ladies were up early to take on the homeschool team – the Lubbock Titans. This was a team that was full of height and skill. But, the Lady Cubs stuck to their game and defeated the Titans by a score of 57-42. The Lady Cubs had three scorers in double digits with Tia Johnson, Deja Johnson and Gabi all scoring 11 points. This set the Ladies up for the Championship game on Saturday afternoon.
The Ladies faced #3 ranked Vega, a 2A powerhouse, in the finals.
Vega came into the game undefeated, while the Lady Cubs had only one loss, which came in their first game of the season to 5A Monterey.
The end of the first quarter found the Lady Cubs down 10-7, but at the half, the Ladies held a one point advantage over the Lady Longhorns with a score of 23-22. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Ladies were down by three. With 49 seconds to play, it was a two point game.
Deja was able to come up with a layup underneath the basket to tie the ballgame with just seconds to play. Gabi had a chance for a breakaway layup to secure a victory but, as was the case for so much of the day, the ball went in and out just as the buzzer sounded.
In the overtime period, the Lady Cubs youth just caught up with them as they were only able to score three points in the period, before falling by a final score of 54-45. Gabi was good for 22 points in this game, and the Lady Cubs took home the Second Place trophy.
Deja, Tia and Dabria were all named to the All Tournament team and Gabi was named as the MVP of the Small School Girls Bracket.
The Lady Cubs are excellent shooters from all over the court and their heady play is fun to watch, but it is their defense that kept them in the final games when shots were not falling as easily. Their games in this tournament were defensive clinics to all those watching.
For a team full of Sophomores and Freshman, with only one Senior on the roster, this weekend was an outstanding showing and certainly a peek at what Lady Cub fans have to look forward to for the next couple of years.
The Ladies will get back to District play on Friday,January 3, as they face Roosevelt at home in a 6 p.m. contest. You can listen live to all the action on Listen Live on Towntalkradio.com or the TownTalk app.
