Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Grady's Jasmine Gonzalez, left, and Elida's Madi Haley watch as a shot goes up and wait for the rebound during Elida's 50-30 win Saturday.
The Bronchos' Lucas Whitehead slips past the Elida defense on the baseline for the score during Grady's 55-33 win.
ELIDA — In a tale of two halves, the Elida girls basketball team picked up their ninth consecutive win Saturday, beating Grady, 50-30.
Led by Madi Haley with 11 points and Taylor Epps with 10, the Lady Tigers (17-3, 6-0) started the game off slow, struggling on the offensive end.
The slow start gave the Lady Bronchos (10-12, 4-3) the edge they were looking for, holding Elida to only 16 first-half points and heading into the locker room only down by one.
Lady Tigers coach Jaden Isler said, "We just felt like we didn't rebound very well and that made it hard for us to get out and run in the first half. Really, just offensively we took good shots but they didn't fall in the first, so in the second when we knocked those shots down it allowed us to get in to our press."
Indeed, the Lady Tigers made some serious halftime adjustments, more than doubling their first half scoring total in the final two periods. Grady wasn't so lucky, with Elida's full court press putting a wrench in any plans for the upset.
One thing that Grady did do well for the most part was keep Elida's size off the boards with its zone defense. While the taller Lady Tigers would get their share of points in the paint, most came off fast breaks or turnovers.
Yara Sotelo led the Lady Bronchos with 16.
Elida will resume play with a road matchup against San Jon on Thursday at 4 p.m. Grady will play Wednesday at Melrose with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.
Boys — The Grady High boys used a big first half to cruise to a 55-33 victory Saturday night, beating Elida on the road, 55-33.
Led by Daniel Edwards with 14, the Bronchos (10-12, 4-3) Chisum Rush added 12 while Lucas Whitehead scored 10. Kaull Burton led the Tigers (2-17, 0-6) with 15 points.
Despite the large deficit, the game was intense throughout. Both teams took a fast-paced approach to the matchup, with the ball flying up and down the court constantly.
"Our kids defended really well," Grady coach Jason Lee said. "They (Elida) have some kids that can really take the ball to the hole and we did well stopping that. It's not as easy as it looks, I really tip my hat to these kids from Elida, they make you do things right on the offensive end to score."
Elida was without head coach Logan Turnbow, who was sitting out a game after being ejected in the Tigers' previous game against Floyd. Isler filled in, but said Turnbow's absence led to some difficulties.
"A little part of it is that I'm not with them in practice every day," Isler said, "and I don't know all their offensive plays. But another part of it was that we got some open shots that we just didn't knock down and I thought we could've attacked the gaps a little better in the first half."
Next up for Grady is a matchup with Melrose on Wednesday with tipoff set for 7 p.m. Elida will travel to Clovis Christian Saturday for a 4:30 p.m. start.
