The Littlefield Lady Cats’ varsity basketball team squared off with the Friona Squaws at Wildcat Gym on Tuesday, taking their second meeting of the season, 66-15
Ẇith the win, the Lady Cats improve to 20-9 overall, 8-2 in district play.
The Lady Cats came out on fire offensively, as Kennadi Hanlin buried a three from the left elbow off of the assist from Arianna Cruz to open the contest. Brookelyn Gau picked up a steal at half court and took the other way for a quick lay-up and Emily Champion followed it up with a three from the left elbow, off of the assist from Gau, pushing their lead to, 8-0.
Hanlin drained another three from the right elbow, off of an assist from Gau, as the Squaws took a time out with 5:13 left to play in the opening quarter, trailing the Lady Cats, 11-0. Out of the break, Gau knocked down a jumper from the right wing, off of the assist from Mahalia Huey and on their next possession, Huey was fouled on an attempt by Kitzy Welch. She converted both free throws to extend their lead to, 15-0, with just over four minutes remaining in the first quarter.
With 3:42 left to play in the quarter, Reyna Arias got Friona on the board with a lay-up, but Littlefield answered as Jazmine Barios dished a dime to Gau on the backdoor cut for a lay-up and Cruz followed it up with a three from the right elbow to stretch their lead to, 20-2. On their next possession, Cruz drove the left baseline for a lay-up, but with under one minute to play in the quarter, Ivory Shelby was fouled on an attempt by Cruz. She split the attempts and Cruz answered with a runner in the lane to make the score, 24-3, as the first quarter came to a close.
Champion opened the second quarter with a three from the right wing, off of an assist from Gau and Cruz forced a five-second call on Shelby on the defensive end to regain possession for Littlefield with 7:17 left to play in the first half. Gau picked up a steal and took it to the basket for a lay-up and on the next play, she gathered another steal and was fouled on the fast-break by Hiromy Quiroz; she converted both free throws to extend their lead to, 31-3.
Huey kept the rally going with a lay-up, drawing an and-one foul on Quiroz. She converted the free throw to finish the three-point play, pushing their lead out to, 34-3, with 5:01 remaining in the half. Huey and Barios each split a pair of free throws and Bri Valdez drove to the basket for a lay-up on the right side to extend their lead to, 38-3.
With under three minutes left to play in the half, Cali Saldana knocked down a three from the top of the key, off of the assist from Valdez and Gau, on their next possession, knocked down a turnaround jumper in the lane to extend the lead to, 43-3. Saldana turned a steal into a fast-break layup and Champion converted a pair of free throws to push their lead to, 47-3. With under one minute to play in the half, Anahi Gonzalez was fouled on the floor by Valdez, earning a one-in-one opportunity. She knocked down both free throws, but on the other end, Valdez dropped in a put-back off of a miss by Saldana making the score, 49-5, going into the locker room at halftime.
Arias opened the second half with a put-back for Friona, but Gau was fouled on an attempt on the other end by Laura Perez. She sank both free throws and followed it up with a lay-up off of the assist from Huey to push their lead back out to, 53-7, with 4:16 remaining in the third quarter.
Cruz was fouled on an attempt by Shelby and split the attempts at the free-throw line and Gau followed it up with a lay-up, before Friona knocked down a three from the top of the key to end the run, trimming the lead to, 56-10. Cruz would split a pair of free throws to close out the quarter with the Lady Cats in front, 57-10.
Gau opened the fourth quarter with a lay-up off of the assist from Champion and Cruz was fouled on an attempt, earning a trip to the free-throw line. She split the free throws, making the score, 60-10, with 7:15 remaining in the contest. With 5:38 left to play, Shelby was fouled on an attempt by Cruz and split the free throws trimming the lead to, 60-11. Gau converted a pair of free throws with 5:26 left to play, but Gonzalez answered with a three from the left wing, off of the assist from Shelby and Welch split a pair of free throws to cut the lead to, 62-15.
Barios knocked down a three from the left wing and Saldana split a pair of free throws to close out the game, as Littlefield took down Friona, 66-15.
Gau led the team in scoring with 22 points, to go along with three assists, three steals, two blocks and one rebound, while Cruz also finished in double-figures scoring with 10 points, while adding eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Champion tallied eight points, three rebounds and one steal, while Saldana chipped in six points, two rebounds and one assist, and Huey contributed six points, one assist and one steal. Hanlin notched six points and one rebound, while Barios tacked on four points, seven rebounds and two assists, and Valdez tallied four points, five rebounds and two steals.
Parker added nine rebounds and one block, while Elizondo chipped in two rebounds in the contest.
The Lady Cats were at Brownfield on Friday. Results were not available at press time. They will close out the regular season on Tuesday with a home game against Muleshoe.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.