The Weatherford defense took the podium from the tipoff Friday at Roos gymnasium to make a strong and lasting statement. The aggressiveness of the starting five spoke loudly, as the Lady Roos steadily built a lead that Abilene never threatened and handily won the District 3-5A debate, 61-38.
“We really wanted to jump on [Abilene] early and send a clear message,” said Weatherford head coach Mike Miller. “We’ve been letting teams hang around and we just didn’t want to let that happen tonight.”
The aggressive defense eventually spawned some serious foul trouble for the Weatherford girls, but the Lady Roos had built a 25-point lead by the end of the third quarter, giving sufficient breathing room for the team through the rest of the game.
“Even though we had some foul trouble, we wanted to come out in the second half and do the same thing [with the defense],” Miller said. “We just told them ‘You’ve just got to go play.’ You can’t always anticipate what the refs are going to call. You have to learn to adjust.”
The close defensive quarters by Weatherford kept the Lady Eagles noticeably uncomfortable from the outset, with the Abilene starters managing just three points in the opening period. The Lady Roos, led by Mack Lankford’s seven points, racked up 18 points to take a double digit lead in the first. Lankford, despite sitting out virtually the entire second period, added 17 in the second half to finish as the game’s high scorer, with 24 points.
The referees made their presence felt in the second quarter, as they began calling the game a bit tighter, allowing less contact and whistling more often with play under the basket. There were a total of 79 free throws attempted by the end of the contest.
Fouls made a large impact, with finality, on the Weatherford lineup in the final period. In a 54-second span, Weatherford starters Lankford, then Shaina Jenkins and finally Ashley Bosley headed for the bench after reaching their foul limits. Starter Amy Manley finished the game one foul short of sitting. Luckily, the major damage had already been done to the Abilene effort, as the Lady Roos enjoyed a 20-plus point advantage throughout the final quarter.
The win gives Weatherford a 3-1 district record, with Haltom next on the 3-5A schedule. The Lady Roos travel Tuesday to meet the Lady Buffs at 7:30 p.m.
Weatherford 61, Abilene 38
AHS 3 10 10 15 — 38
WHS 18 6 24 13 — 61
Abilene - Alyssa Roa 7, Kay McDow 7, Adrian Garrett 6, London Leong 5, Drew McMillon 5, Beth Johnston 3, Jazmyn Gindratt 3, Libby Sinclair 2. 3-pointers — Garrett.
Weatherford — Mack Lankford 24, Ashley Bosley 12, Amy Manley 12, Shaina Jenkins 8, Jessica Shell 3, Katie Bruton 2.
Free throws: AHS 17-36, WHS 22-43.
Sports
WHS defense halts Abilene
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McKinley nets 800th win
Bob McKinley hit a major coaching milestone Saturday afternoon.
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WHS wrestlers see success at district meet
The Weatherford wrestling team traveled to Springtown Saturday to compete in the District 8 Wrestling Championships.
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New designation, same foes for WHS
Despite rumblings of a major shake up in the Class 5A infrastructure for the next two years, the University Interscholastic League (UIL), for good or bad, chose indifference regarding plans to create a Class 6A. As alignments for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 UIL seasons were announced Thursday, most area schools were affected in varying degrees, but none less than Weatherford High School.
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Paschal edges WHS teams on Senior Night
With nothing to lose and an opportunity to play spoiler, Paschal's Lady Panthers took the floor loose and energetic on Friday, and did indeed put a crimp in Weatherford's plans for a postseason spot at Kangaroo gymnasium.
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WC recovers, wins late over Navarro
Not to be outdone by the Lady Coyotes late-inning heroics in their opener last week, the Weatherford College baseball team had plenty of drama in its opener, as well, as it launched a final-inning 3-run barrage to beat defending national champion Navarro College, 8-7.
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Area sports schedules — Week of February 6
It is official. With the start of area prep baseball and softball scrimmages in the coming week, as well as Weatherford College playing its baseball season-opener on Saturday last, the busiest time of year, sports-wise for Parker County, has emerged.
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Weatherford College Baseball Preview
When Jeff Lightfoot started the Weatherford College baseball program almost a decade ago, he wasted no time in building a winner — and fans have gotten used to the Coyotes being a part of the postseason.
So with the start of each season comes high expectations, all with the hopes of getting that elusive first Junior College World Series berth. Lightfoot has a JUCO World Series title as a coach at Eastfield College in Mesquite in 2001.
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WC snags WHS diamond standout
It is not the first time, and certainly will not be the last that a metaphorical baton, in this case, a baseball student-athlete has been passed from Weatherford High School to Weatherford College. Groomed on the diamond for the past four years by WHS head coach Terry Massey and assistant Jason Lee, senior Trooper Reynolds confirmed his scholastic and athletic intentions at the next step on Friday, signing a national letter-of-intent to Weatherford College.
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Softball era begins at WC
The crowd on hand Saturday at the Weatherford College Softball Complex was already standing-room only for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, a full 30 minutes before the first pitch was thrown to open the inaugural regular season of the WC Lady Coyotes softball team. Fans and well-wishers were strewn from the concessions mezzanine behind the first-base line, through the packed stands and even into the Lady Coyotes dugout.
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Basketball briefs - Jan. 29
Arlington Lamar hill too steep for Roos
Staff Report
Weatherford found some offensive punch in the fourth quarter of their District 4-5A match at Arlington Lamar on Friday, but the hole was too deep by then, as Weatherford dropped the contest to the Vikes, 57-39.
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