Lady Lions compete in Gonzales Tourney

Varsity
The Lady Lions participated in a round-robin tournament in Gonzales over the weekend, Nov. 17-19. Lockhart played five games in a three-day span.
First up for the Lady Lions was a rematch against the Lady Tigers of Smithville. Lockhart lost the first meeting between the schools only six days earlier. Lockhart played extremely tough and was within five poi

nts with a couple of minutes to go before losing 37-28. Mariah Carter led all scorers with 10 points and Cecilya Smith added six.
“I was extremely pleased with our improvement from our first meeting in which we lost by 17,” said Head Coach David Johnston. “The girls really showed that they have improved in just a short span.”
Game two, later the same day, saw the Lady Lions take on the much-heralded Bobkittens of Moulton.
“Moulton is synonymous with state-championship caliber basketball,” said Johnston.
The Lady Lions played a great game with 10 players getting into the scorebooks: Mariah Carter with 16 points, Adrian Carter with eight points, Andrea Carter with six points, Zenaida Rubio with four points, Noami Hayes with three points, Ada Lampkin with two points, Danielle Beltran with two points, and Venoris Carter with two points. Lockhart made their way into foul trouble, and Moulton put the game away for a 66-49 victory.
Game three, on Friday, featured Lockhart and LaGrange. Again,
Lockhart was in the game down by only five points with four minutes to play.
“It was a great effort. Our girls played hard and I am proud of them,” Johnston added.
For game four, on Saturday, Lockhart played the host school,
Gonzales. Lockhart trailed 29-25 at halftime, led by Mariah
Carter with 14 of her career high 18 points. Gonzales exploded for 29 third quarter points.
“Gonzales is an excellent fast-break basketball team…probably the best I have ever seen,” said Johnston. “We played them very tough, but we just didn”t put four quarters together.”
Gonzales cruised to a 61-38 victory over the Lady Lions.

In game five, on Saturday evening, the Lady Lions were pitted against the LaVernia Lady Bears. LaVernia jumped out to a 13-2 first quarter lead. For the next three quarters Lockhart would be right there with them.
“We cut the lead to five in the fourth quarter, but LaVernia made nine of nine free throws in the fourth quarter. Championship teams win games from the line,” said Johnston.
“Shelly Castro, Christan Kelly, Caitlin Mitchell, Ada Lampkin, Cecilya Smith, Noami Hayes did a tremendous job coming off the bench. It was a team effort. The girls really stepped up and played each game with intensity. What you get scared of in this format is that they just go through the motions in the final games, but our girls mentally stayed in there and competed very hard,” Johnston added.

Junior Varsity
The Lady Lion junior varsity basketball squad had a great run at the Lady Apache Tournament in Gonzales this weekend, Nov. 17-19.
The Lady Lions defeated LaVernia 42-39 and Luling 37-13 to secure a spot in the championship game.
Lockhart came home with the second place trophy after losing to the tough New Braunfels Canyon team.
Quandalyn Brite led the scorers with 11 points. Also contributing points were Jamie Ruiz with eight points, Naomi Oliva with seven points, Chelsy Martinez with four points, Shaundalyn Brite with five points and Oriana Puentes with two points.

(Courtesy of David Johnston)