Late rally comes up short for Lady Mustangs

February 22, 2010

FRIENDSWOOD — The Friendswood Lady Mustangs (26-6) faced a very fast and aggressive Houston Worthing team that opened up the game with a quick 9-0 lead. That set the tone for Friendswood to fall in an early hole and they spent the majority of the game trying to dig themselves out.

The Lady Colts took the first quarter 18-10 and stretched their lead to 33-22 at intermission.

Friendswood continued to battle to take the third quarter 11-10 to set the stage trailing 43-33 entering the final eight minutes of action with the season on the line for both teams.

With 1:33 left in the game, Friendswood closed the margin to 52-48 on a 3-pointer by Victoria Trevino. After Worthing missed two straight free throws - it appeared that the Lady Mustangs could narrow the gap even more.

However, as Annalisa Hall, who had been a thorn in Wothing's side the entire game, attempted to drive the lane, a quick hand by Worthing stipped the ball that led to an easy layup and a 54-48 lead with 1:07 showing on the game clock.

That would be as close as Friendswood could get as the Lady Colts outscored the Lady Mustangs 5-3 down the stretch to pick up the 59-51 win.

“We fell behind early, but I was proud of the way the girls responded late,” Friendswood coach Kirby Killingsworth said. “We cut it to four and made it a game there. But our rebounding killed us tonight. We couldn’t recover by giving them so many second-chance shots.”

On the other side of the ball, Friendswood had no defensive answer for Worthing standout guard Jenzel Nash who set the tone early with seven points in the first quarter and finished the game with 30 points.

“(Nash) is a great player, and she finds ways to get to the basket,” Killingsworth said. “I think we did better in the second half against her when we switched to a box-and-one defense. She still found a way to get her points, though.”

Hall finished with a team-high 17 points. Also scoring for Friendswood were Kellsey Kaufhold (14), Jennifer Twyford (four), Trevino (three), JC Woodard (two), and Taylor Wilson (two).

It was another strong season for the Lady Mustangs who finished their season with a 26-6 overall record. Friendswood beat Bay City in the first round of the 4A Region III playoffs.

Top