Bellevue
The Bellevue Lady Eagles were able to pick up where they left off in the bi-district playoff game against Throckmorton on Tuesday in City View.
After coming up just short of winning the district title a few days before against Slidell, the Lady Eagles took their frustration out on the Lady Greyhounds 71-22.
Like most of district play, Bellevue’s pressing defense and quick trigger on offense allowed them to get the lead early and never look back.
Coach John McGee did not have much to complain about.
“I was really pleased with their performance,” McGee said. “It wasn’t hard to stay engaged or focused because we understand that strange things have happened on a basketball court and we didn’t want that to happen to us. All of the girls got plenty of playing time.”
Cassie Simpson led the team with 22 points and FreeDom Morris was second with 16 points.
They had a tough task on Friday against number one seed Dodd City, but McGee is not worried his team will be intimated.
“I believe the girls have set their hearts to play for a long time so it doesn’t matter whose program it is,” McGee said. “With hard work anything can happen. We realize that every game could be our last game so we know that we have to leave it all on the court every night.”
With a big senior class, this is the year for this successful generation of Bellevue girls who have first round playoff wins now five seasons in a row.
The last four years have ended against Dodd City in the second round. Will this be the year the Lady Eagles break through?
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers season came to an end with a loss to Bryson on Monday night in Henrieatta.
The Lady Panthers had a tall task coming in as the third seed against the Cowgirls and would end up losing 46-23.
Down 12-6, but still competitive in the first quarter, the game got away from them as they could only score two points in the second quarter.
With four senior starters and everyone returning from last years team, making the playoffs was the big accomplishment for this team. They fought tooth and nail against the rest of the district once it became known that Bellevue and Slidell had the top two spots.
Close wins at home and on the road really showed the maturity of this team when a lot of the teams in the district fielded younger starting fives.
Their wins were not always pretty, but this group was able to keep a calm head and make crucial halftime adjustments throughout the year to give them the advantage they needed in those close games.
With it being the programs first playoff appearance since 2014, that accomplishment says all that you need to know about this team.
Future teams and younger players have a standard to chase.