‘Cats, ‘Lady ‘Cats shoot in Whiteface tourney

Wellman-Union’s hoops squads returned winless from last weekend’s Whiteface tournament, but learned a few things about what they need to turn their record around in their upcoming district season.

The Wildcats suffered losses of 22-57 to Whiteface, 21-55 to Lorenzo and 36-46 to Hart. 

They were behind the hosting Antelopes pretty much the entire Round 1 of the event, but not through lack of effort.
"We played better than the score indicates,” said head coach JoeBob Ussery. "Our half-court defense is playing well, but we need to limit our turnovers for easy baskets.”

They made a few similar mistakes against the Hornets in the second round but still showed improvement, Ussery said. By the third and final game they played significantly better, narrowing their deficit to only four points by the end of the third quarter.

"This was by far the best game of the year,” Ussery said. "The guys are figuring things out. This was a good tournament, and we improved our play every game.” 

The Lady Wildcats opened the tournament Thursday with a 33-55 loss to the tournament hosts Whiteface, in which they were down 14-35 at halftime but scored fairly evenly with the Lady Antelopes in the next two quarters. They fell to Crosbyton 29-36 in the second round of the competition, and wrapped it up with a 29-38 loss to Hart. 

"We are killing ourselves with turnovers and not making the shots off the blocks,” said head coach Todd Ellis. "Our youth is showing up, but it’s time to grow up.”

Individual scorers included:

Wildcats v. Whiteface - Kirby Bailey 7, Vincent Tedford 6, Kirk Martin 4, Martin Loewen 3 and Steve Olivas 2.
Wildcats v. Lorenzo - Bailey 9, Tedford 5, Luis Gonzales 4, Loewen 2 and Nathaniel Steiger 1.
Wildcats v. Hart - Tedford 13, Loewen 9, Bailey 7, Martin 3, Gonzales 2 and Steiger 2.

Lady ‘Cats v. Whiteface - Abi Lindsey 8 and Breck Faught 8

Lady ‘Cats v. Crosbyton - Rosa Olivas 11
Lady ‘Cats v. Hart - Olivas 9

The Wildcats (now 0-6) and Lady Wildcats (2-6) will next compete in the Whitharral tournament this Thursday through Saturday and begin district season Tuesday in Borden County.