Weekend prep wrapup: Melrose boys suffer first defeat

SMYER, Texas — So the Melrose boys basketball team won’t go undefeated this season.

The Buffaloes got into this weekend’s Smyer tournament looking to challenge themselves, and after two easy wins on Thursday they met their match in Saturday’s 63-58 loss to Lubbock Christian, a Class 4A Tapps program.

Melrose (5-1) trailed by 18 points late in the first half before storming back, outscoring the Eagles 23-11 in the third period. The Buffs then took the lead by a point with about three minutes left, but a 3-pointer on the next trip down put Lubbock Christian (2-1) back in front for good.

“It was a good game for us,” Buffs coach Kevin Lackey said. “It’s exactly why we came to this tournament.

“We came out flat today. We had a hard time making perimeter shots.”

Junior Tate Sorgen (18), senior Tristan Sena (17) and junior Devon Bailey (15) accounted for all but eight of Melrose’s points.

Alice King Invitational, Moriarty

Melrose girls 56, Del Norte 44 (5th place): The Lady Buffs, the only school smaller than 3A in the field, captured their second consecutive win by knocking off the Class 4A Lady Knights.

Melrose (5-1) got 19 points from senior Shannon May and 12 from junior Hailey Martin. Del Norte (2-4) was led by junior Jade Lucero’s 12 points.

Elida Invitational

Girls

Dexter 47, Clovis Christian 36 (championship): The Lady Demons pulled away steadily over the final three quarters to claim the tourney title.

Sophomore Nayeli Cobos led the way for Dexter (5-3) with 20 points, while senior Anayee Carlos added 10. The Lady Eagles (5-4) got 13 points from junior Lola DeGroot.

Grady 67, Elida 20 (3rd place): The Lady Bronchos (5-3) stormed to a 29-2 lead in the first quarter and cruised the rest of the way as juniors Teryn Foote (19), Kristin Grau (14) and Isabel Martinez (14) all reached double figures. Martinez was a perfect 6-of-6 at the foul line.

For the Lady Tigers (1-6), junior Maislyn Ferguson hit 8-of-12 from the free throw line and finished with 10 points.

Clovis JV 44, Floyd 29 (5th place): The Lady Wildcats (6-2) broke a tie with an 11-4 run in the second quarter and went on to victory behind eight points from sophomore Luisa Chavez. Senior Ahani Chavez led all scorers with 12 points for the Lady Broncos (1-5).

Hagerman 49, Dora 48 (7th place): The Lady Coyotes were certainly close, if nothing else, during the tournament. They dropped a pair of overtime games before falling in Saturday’s heartbreaker to the Lady Bobcats (4-3).

Leading scorers for Dora (2-5) were seniors Randi Crandall with 22 points and Katelyn Kircher with 12.

Boys

Elida 51, Dora 37 (championship): After winning Dora’s J.P. Stone Invitational title over the Coyotes on Dec. 7, the Tigers repeated the feat in their own tourney, erasing a three-point deficit with a 16-2 scoring advantage in the second quarter.

Elida coach Jared Fraze said the key was switching to a man-to-man defense.

“We came out flat,” he said. “We picked it up (defensively) in the second quarter.”

Junior Teagan Burton and sophomore Rylan Creighton scored 15 points each for Elida (7-0), and senior Tyce Delk added 13. For the Coyotes (5-2), junior Austin Wall scored nine points.

Grady 64, Clovis Christian 57 (3rd place): Senior Chisum Rush continued to pace the Bronchos, scoring 23 points to finish the three tourney games with 77. Sophomore Dustin Bryant added 13 and junior Chad Beccera 11 for Grady (5-3).

Leading scorers for the Eagles (3-6) were junior Tyler Lingnau with 27 and freshman Noah Gershon with 10.

Farwell Invitational

Girls

Littlefield 52, Farwell 49 (championship): The Lady Blue (8-5) took a late lead, but couldn’t hold on in the final minute against the Lady Wildcats (11-1), who rode a 33-point outing from senior Kaitlyn Edgemon to victory.

Junior Presley Agee scored 19 points and senior Karson Barnes had 10 for Farwell.

Claude 33, Texico 26 (3rd place): The Lady Mustangs outscored Texico 20-9 over the middle two quarters to claim third place in the seven-team, round-robin tourney.

Junior Lanie Stipps scored 18 points for Claude, while the Lady Wolverines (1-4) got 14 points from senior Ashley Hill and nine from junior Rachel Phipps.

Boys

Littlefield 42, Farwell 35 (championship): The Steers erased a nine-point halftime deficit with a 17-6 run in the third quarter, but Littlefield (10-0) held them to just two points in the final stanza.

Senior Jayden Longoria topped the Wildcats with 8 points. Junior Jonathan Mora scored 11 for Farwell (8-5).

Texico 62, Hale Center 42: Junior David Davalos tallied 17 points and junior Anders Nelson added 11 for Texico (4-1), which cruised after opening a 42-13 halftime lead.