Published: March 12, 2008 01:57 pm            

WC loses to Western Texas in overtime melee

BELTON — The Weatherford College women may have been able to surmount the late-game heroics of Lady Westerners point guard Marah Guzman, whose buzzer-beating drive and off-balance shot into the bucket forced an overtime period Friday. But the Lady Coyotes could not overcome the apparent physical display by Western Texas College’s defense and the seeming absence of foul whistles blown at Mary Hardin-Baylor University’s Mayborn Arena.

Despite falling behind four points in the first couple of minutes of overtime, Weatherford fought back to stay close enough in the contest to pull out the victory, down just a point with 14 seconds remaining. On their final possession, the Lady Coyotes were unable to score, losing the first-round Region V National Junior College Athletic Association game, 69-68.

Defeated by the WC women twice earlier in the season, the Lady Westerners needed their top game to win and, from the outset, were determined to deny the lane to the Lady Coyotes as much as possible. Western Texas, coupled with some mis-communication and errant passing by Weatherford in the opening minutes of the contest, accomplished the task early, going up seven points just five minutes into the game.

The Lady Coyotes began to get the ball inside to pull even at 22 apiece with seven minutes left in the first half, then went on a 13-5 run to lead Western Texas by nine at the half, 37-28.

After the break, the Lady Westerners crept back into the contest by getting very physical each time the WC women got inside the paint, to deploy its height advantage. Body contact was rampant as WTC women aggressively challenged each Lady Coyotes’ attempt for close-in baskets.

“I thought [Western Texas] did a pretty good job,” said Weatherford College head coach Bob McKinley of the Lady Westerners’ defensive effort. “But there’s a rule in basketball that when you’re playing defense, you can’t reach behind you and put your arms around [the player you’re guarding] and hold position like that.

“Afeisha Noel shot about eight free throws [on the night] and I think she was fouled every time she touched the ball.”

“I know that kind of sounds like sour grapes, but I’ve never, in the 30 to 40 years I’ve been coaching, seen a game officiated like that.”

The Lady Coyotes’ supporters at the game grew more vocal as the second half progressed and the Western Texas defense continued to frustrate WC’s efforts to cleanly get a shot off under the basket. During a conference between two of the officials with the scoring table to sort out some confusion over a call, the third official sought out the services of a security guard to remove a Weatherford supporter.

“[The officials] had one of our fans escorted from the gym for questioning a call that they made,” McKinley said. “If they are more concerned about what’s going on four rows up in the stands than they are about what’s [happening] on the court, then there’s a big problem with the way they are officiating the game.”

The Lady Westerners continued to close the gap through the second half, closing to two points with 28 seconds left on the clock. The Lady Coyotes hurt themselves with sporadic free-throw shooting in the waning minutes, sent to the line with Western Texas’ intentional fouls.

Garza, who finished as the game’s high-scorer with 29 points on the night, proved to be the Westerners’ go-to player in the final seconds of regulation play. The diminutive 5-2 guard drove the left side of the lane, twisting her body to flip a right-handed arc over the Lady Coyotes’ out-stretched arms. The shot fell and the teams were sent into overtime, knotted at 60.

Going back to the inside game that carried the Lady Coyotes to many of their victories throughout the season, Western Texas was relentless with their double and triple teaming of Noel and Julita Bugaite in the lanes.

“I definitely felt like [the officials] let [Western Texas] do a lot of things inside, and again, every time you say something like that it sounds like it’s just sour grapes and all,” McKinley said, “but the bottom line is they just hammered Julita and [Afeisha] every time they touched the ball.

“On one occasion, [Noel] shot [and rebounded] the ball three times and she was just getting killed. [The officials] said ‘Oh, they were just blocking it’. They didn’t have any body that could get up to the ball, let alone get the block.

“You know, that’s the way it goes. When you play, you have to take those kind of things with it. I didn’t think we played that badly, as far as our effort is concerned. We played really hard, but there’s no way you can overcome some of [the calls] like that. It’s just really frustrating to the players when the officials can kind of do whatever they want.”

The Lady Coyotes finish the season with an overall record of 21-5, with a 15-1 mark in conference play. Winning the top seed in the conference tournament, then making an early exit in the loss to Western Texas is disappointing to McKinley, who has seen his team enjoy considerable success this year as the premier team in the conference.

“Not only [the success we’ve had], but we had already beaten [WTC] twice during the year and there’s no doubt we have the better basketball team. But we don’t have the better basketball team under these conditions.”



Western Texas College 69, Weatherford College 68

Western Texas — Marah Guzman 29, Iesha Everline 12, Trikeyia East 11, Sirena Medrano 8, Ariel Sanchez 4, Sharena Wilson 2, Breanna Talavera 2, Simone Jackson 1. Three-point goals: 7 (Guzman 3, East 3, Medrano). Free-throws: 18-25.

Weatherford College — Julita Bungaite 15, Afeisha Noel 14, Tanesha Wilkins 8, Ashley Harrell 7, Monique Burnham 7, Melissa Villalobos 4, Egidija Busaite 4. Three-point goals: 4 (Bungaite 2, Harrell, Busaite). Free-throws: 16-32.

Halftime — Weatherford College 37, Western Texas College 28.

        

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