The Littlefield Lady Cats’ varsity basketball team dropped a heart-breaker to the Clarendon Lady Broncos on Friday in the 32nd annual Wildcat Classic Championship, 36-34.
With the loss the Lady Cats finish tournament play for the week, 2-1, improve to 14-6 overall, 3-0 in district play.
Clarendon opened the contest with a put-back, but on the other end, Arianna Cruz drove to the basket for a lay-up, drawing an and-one foul on Kashlyn Conkin. She converted the free throw to put the Lady Cats in front, 3-2. With 4:20 remaining in the opening quarter, Cruz took a charge on Tandie Cummins and she followed it up on the offensive end with a fast-break lay-up off of a steal by Ari Castillo, stretching the lead to, 5-2.
Graci Smith dropped in a lay-up off of the assist by Berkley Moore, but Jazmine Rosalez banked in a floater off of an assist from Kennadi Hanlin to make the score, 7-4, with just under two minutes to play in the first quarter. Presley Smith dropped in a floater from the left wing, but with under a minute to play in the quarter, Hanlin was fouled by Graci Smith, earning a trip to the line. She missed the first two attempts, but a lane violation on Clarendon gave her an extra shot from the line, which she sank to make the score, 8-6.
With tiem winding down in the quarter, Kenidee Hayes knocked down a jumper from the right wing to tie the game, 8-8, as the first quarter came to a close.
Hayes and Marysa Saenz exchanged threes to open the second frame, but Kashlyn Conkin responded with a three from the left elbow off of the assist from Courtlyn Conkin to put the Lady Broncos in front, 14-11. With 4:03 to play in the half, Hayes picked up a steal from Hanlin and got it to Hayden Elam for an easy lay-up, stretching their lead to, 16-11.
Kennadie Cummins was fouled on a put-back attempt by Cali Saldana with just under four minutes to play in the half. She sank one-of-two shots from the line, but Hanlin answered with a three from the top of the key off of the assist from Rosalez, slicing the lead to, 17-14. Moore took a charge on Castillo and Elam followed it up with a jumper from the right wing to stretch the Clarendon lead to, 19-14, but Amiah Elizondo responded with a lay-up and on the next play, Castillo was fouled on an attempt by Graci Smith, who picked up her third foul of the game. Castillo split the free-throw attempts, making the score, 19-17, going into the locker room at halftime.
Cruz picked up a steal and took it to the hoop for a fast-break layup to tie the game, 19-19 and Elizondo followed it up with a charge to regain possession for the Lady Cats with 6:08 to play in the third quarter. Cruz drained a three from the top of the key to stretch the Littlefield lead to, 2219, but on the other end, Presley Smith was fouled on an attempt by Elizondo, earning a trip to the line. She made one-of-two shots from the line, but followed it up with a lay-up to tie the game, 2222.
Elizondo took a charge on Kashlyn Conkin, who picked up her third foul of the game and Castillo followed it up with an offensive rebound, getting the ball out to Rosalez, who knocked down a three from the right wing, putting the Lady Cats back in front, 25-22. Littlefield took a time out with 1:41 to play in the quarter to prevent a turnover, and out of the break, Saenz was fouled on the floor by Kennadie Cummins, earning a trip to the line. She converted both free throws to make it a fivepoint game, but Courtlyn Conkin answered with a three from the left elbow, cutting the lead to one-possession, 27-25. However, Castillo heaved the outlet pass down court to Saenz, who pulled up for a jumper from the right elbow, making the score, 29-25, as the third quarter came to a close.
Castillo opened the fourth quarter with a lay-up, and Clarendon took a full time out with 5:53 to play in the game. Out of the break, Kashlyn Conkin knocked down a three from the left elbow and the Lady Broncos followed it up with a lay-up off of a Littlefield turnover on their end of the floor to cut the lead to one point, 31-30.
Hayes knocked down a jumper in the lane to put Clarendon back in front, 32-31, and Littlefield took a time out with 3:26 remaining. Out of the break, Moore dropped in a put-back to extend the lead to, 3431. After a time out from both teams, Kashlyn Conkin was fouled on the floor by Castillo, who picked up her fourth foul with 15.9 seconds to play in the game. She converted both free throws, pushing the lead to, 36-31.
Littlefield took a time out with 15.3 seconds to play and out of the break, Saenz was fouled on a three-point attempt by Kashlyn Conkin, who fouled out of the contest. Saenz converted all three free throws, as Littlefield took their last time out to talk about their strategy. However, they would fall just short, 36-34.
The Lady Cats were led in scoring by Saenz, who tallied 10 points, to go along with three rebounds and one steal. Hanlin tallied seven points, one rebound and one assist, while Cruz chipped in seven points, three rebound, one steal and one block. Rosalez contributed five points, one rebound, one assist and one steal, while Castillo added three points, nine rebounds, four steals and one assist.
Elizondo added two points, three rebounds and one steal, while Saldana Esquibel each chipped in one rebound.
The Lady Cats will be back in action on Friday, as they host the Lamesa Lady Tornadoes in district play.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.