Lady Mules advance; Steers eliminated

LUBBOCK — Sara Benham scored 23 points and Tori Barton added 15 as the Muleshoe Lady Mules advanced to the Texas Class 3A regional semifinals for the first time under the current format Tuesday night with a 67-47 victory over Tulia at Lubbock Christian University’s Rip Griffin Center.

Muleshoe (30-5), ranked third in 3A, led just 28-27 at halftime, but put the Lady Hornets (22-8) away with a 27-10 blitz in the final quarter. The Lady Mules went 29-of-34 from the free throw line, and were perfect (16-of-16) in the second half.

Lindsey Wood’s 3-pointer from the corner about midway through the fourth quarter gave the Lady Mules a nine-point lead, and they sealed it from the foul line.

Kaylynn Perkins scored 12 points and Desiree Grubb added 10 for Tulia.

Muleshoe returns to Lubbock on Friday night to face fifth-ranked Ballanger in a regional semifinal game at Texas Tech’s United Spirit Arena, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. (CST). In the second game of the doubleheader, second-ranked Canyon takes on No. 5 Graham.

Winners will play for the regional championship at 1 p.m. (CST) on Saturday.

Morton 49, Farwell 33 — At Levelland, the Steers got off to a frigid start and could never recover against the second-ranked Indians in a Class 1A Division I boys bi-district game.

Morton (25-5) rolled to a 15-2 first-quarter lead and never let the Steers (24-8) get within striking distance.

Lupe Duran scored 15 points while 6-foot-9 junior Kendrick Johnson and Brandon Eubanks added 10 apiece for Morton.

Farwell got 12 points from junior guard Tate Nichols. But the Steers shot less than 30 percent from the field and went 0-for-13 from 3-point range.

Girls

Class 3A regional quarterfinals

At Rip Griffin Center, Lubbock

Muleshoe 67, Tulia 47

Muleshoe (30-5) — Brandi Wood 0 0-0 0, Amber Cowart 2 2-2 6, Jamie Carpenter 1 4-4 6, Lindsey Wood 2 4-4 9, Kelsy Friskup 3 0-0 6, Ashley Gutierrez 0 0-0 0, Tori Barton 4 6-6 15, Kasey Wood 1 0-0 2, Sara Benham 5 13-18 23. Totals 18 29-34 67.

Tulia (22-8) — Chavez 1 4-4 7, House 1 0-0 2, Rousseau 1 0-0 2, D. Grubb 4 0-0 10, S. Grubb 2 1-2 6, Holt 3 2-4 8, Perkins 4 4-5 12. Totals 16 11-15 47.

Muleshoe 16 12 12 27 — 67

Tulia 17 10 10 10 — 47

3-pointers — Muleshoe, Barton, L. Wood. Tulia, D. Grubb 2, Chavez, S. Grubb.

Boys

Class 1A Division I bi-district

At Texan Dome, Levelland

Morton 49, Farwell 33

Morton (25-5) — Landon Pierce 1 0-0 2, Brandon Eubanks 4 2-4 10, Lupe Duran 5 5-10 15, Kendrick Johnson 4 2-2 10, Calvin Johnson 3 2-3 8, Cory Cornish 0 0-0 0, James Cornish 1 1-2 4, Drew Kirkland 0 0-0 0, Eli Vasquez 0 0-0 0, J.R. Elmore 0 0-0 0, Paul Zapata 0 0-0 0, Jacob Sabala 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 12-21 49.

Farwell (24-8) — Jason Johnson 2 0-0 4, Robbie Tabb 0 0-0 0, Grant Gregory 1 0-0 2, Tate Nichols 4 4-4 12, Rowdy Mitchell 1 0-0 2, Fabian Reyes 0 2-2 2, Chris Culver 0 1-2 1, Cale Stevenson 0 0-1 0, Jason Sudderth 0 2-2 2, Daniel Kaltwasser 1 0-0 2, Matthew Edwards 0 0-0 0, Derrick Chandler 0 0-0 0, Jose Cabello 3 0-0 6, Jeremie Chandler 0 0-0 0, Tyler Myers 0 0-1 0. Totals 12 9-12 33.

Morton 15 9 12 13 — 49

Farwell 2 6 8 17 — 33

3-pointers — Morton, J. Cornish. Farwell, none.