WHS defense halts Abilene

Greg Webb
sports@weatherforddemocrat.com

January 10, 2009 03:36 pm

— 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.