SPORTS OBITUARIES |
Thursday's Internet Edition, 9:17 AM, March 11, 2010.
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| Kim Baker scored the Lady Dawgs' final six points to lead Cove past Temple 53-50. The sophomore finished with 16 points. – Photo courtesy of CoveDawgs.com |
Staff writer - The Copperas Cove Lady Dawgs clinched the second seed in the 13-5A district race Friday night by defeating a game Tem-Cat squad 53-50.
The Lady Dawgs and Tem-Cats were billed to be evenly matched and the game promised to be a close and hard fought affair. The two playoff bound teams would not disappoint their fans as a crowded Cove gym would see the lead change hands 11 times in the highly contested match.
Cove got off to a quick start in the first quarter thanks to the perimeter shooting of sophomore Kiki Farley and eight points from the paint by senior post Brittany McKinney.
The Lady Dawgs would end the first period with a four-point lead at 17-13.
Temple fought back with zeal and spirit and Cove would be held to a single digit point total at nine in the frame, while Trenette Smith would lead her Tem-Cats on a 15-point effort. The freshman sensation scored eight in the quarter, giving Temple the lead going to the halftime break at 28-26.
Smith would tie Temple’s Shondria Combs as their team’s leading scorers in the contest with 14.
Lady Dawg Boss Kevin Baker had his troops ready to start the second half of the match as his ladies would hold the visitors to eight points, thanks in large part to McKinney’s domination of the paint and a defensive effort led by Lady Dawg seniors Brittany Houston and Benita Jones.
The period would see five lead changes as sophomore Kim Baker would step up her attack on the Tem-Cat bucket during the third quarter to lead her Lady Dawgs’ 12-point total for the period.
Baker would finish the game with 16 points to be Cove’s second highest scorer behind McKinney, who led all scorers in the contest with 18.
The battle raged through the final period with the lead changing hands several times as the two 13-5A powers made a run to the wire.
It would be Baker who would carry the team in the final minute. The sophomore would score Cove’s last six points.
With less than 20 ticks left on the clock and her Dawgs leading by a point at 51-50, Baker would step to the line and coolly drop a pair of free throws to seal the Cove win at 53-50.
Kevin Baker was elated following the game.
"This is what high school basketball is supposed to be like," he said. "It was an honor to be a part of this game."
With their postseason ticket already punched, Cove (22-9, 10-3) will play the third place team from District 14-5A, either Lufkin or Klein, in the bi-district round of the playoffs.
District 13-5A Standings
School District Overall
y-Bryan 13-0 27-5
x-Copperas Cove10-3 22-9
x-Temple 9-4 21-11
Shoemaker 8-5 21-10
A&M Consol 6-7 14-18
Harker Heights 3-10 13-16
Waco 3-10 11-18
Belton 0-13 4-22
y- district champion
x-playoff qualifier
Last game results – Copperas Cove 53, Temple 50; Killeen Shoemaker 55, A&M Consolidated 39; Bryan 76, Belton 55; Killeen Harker Heights 45, Waco 36
Tonight’s schedule – Copperas Cove at Belton, 7 p.m.; Bryan vs. A&M Consolidated at Reed Arena, 6 p.m.; Killeen Shoemaker at Waco, 7 p.m.; Killeen Harker Heights at Temple, 7 p.m.
Boxscore
Copperas Cove 53, Temple 50
TEMPLE – Shondria Combs 14, Trenette Smith 14, Porscha Weddington 6, Dorothy Knox 6, Princess Malone 4, Shirnita Hampton 4, Karyn Johnson 2
COPPERAS COVE – Brittany McKinney 18, Kim Baker 16, KiKi Farley 8, Lauren Flood 7, Brittany Houston 3, Rebecca Long 1
Temple 13 15 8 14 – 50
Cove 17 9 12 15 – 53
Rebounds – Cove 29 (Baker 8, McKinney 6, Houston 5, Flood 4, Jones 4, McBeth 1, Pinkney 1), Temple 25 (Weddington 6, Smith 4, Hampton 3, Knox 3, Combs 2, Johnson 1)
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| Freshman Mattias Erickson weaves his way through the Wildcat defense during the district opener Friday night in Cove. – Photo by Cedric Iglehart |
Sports editor - After some strong showings to open the season, the Copperas Cove Bulldawg varsity team suffered a 7-1 loss to Temple in their district opener Friday night.
The Wildcats (6-4-1, 1-0) got a pair of goals from Weston Gooch, Cameron Gilmore and Michael Dent with Logan Proctor also adding one.
"We played very well," said Temple head coach Tarcisio Mosnia. "I was very impressed. I thought it was a good team effort overall. We were so inconsistent at the beginning (of the season), but in this game things fell into place a little bit."
Temple got off to a fast start, scoring two goals in the first half to lead 2-0 at the intermission.
"We knew they were going to be a fast moving team that would bang it way down the field," said Cove head coach Hagen Streckel. "We held real well in the first half but we dropped our heads after that second goal."
The Wildcats came out in the second half and got another goal to go before Joel Hanley finally got the Dawgs on the board by scoring off a penalty kick.
But the floodgates opened soon after as Temple ripped off three scores in the next eight minutes.
"Our backside marking wasn’t on cue today," Streckel said. "When you’ve got a team like Temple that is really moving that quickly, you’ve got to get on it."
"When you’re down two or three goals and you want to make a comeback, you have a tendency to try to play their game. We controlled the flow of the game in the first half but in the second half we just lost it."
Outstanding players for Cove included Hanley, goalkeeper Dustin Mast, Travis Rowland and Mattias Erickson.
"We just brought him (Erickson) up from the JV and he showed us some good things," Streckel said. "We hustled quite a bit. I thought we would control the ball a little bit better but we got rattled."
The large margin of victory was unexpected since Cove (1-3-1, 1-0) had played so well at the beginning of the season. The Dawgs finished second in their bracket at the Corsicana Tournament and narrowly missed qualifying for the finals in tournaments at both Round Rock and Bastrop.
Despite the loss, Streckel still believes that this year’s team will be better than the one that won only two district games in 2004.
"We’re much stronger," Streckel said. "We’re more cohesive in passing the ball. When our guys are clicking, we are fun to watch."
The junior varsity Dawgs also lost their district opener to Temple, losing 1-0.
The Wildcats scored a goal early on in the contest and held on for the win.
"We played a tough game," said Cove head coach J.T. Irick. "We didn’t play so well in the first half but we made some corrections for the second half and they came out and played the way I wanted them to play. We just couldn’t get the ball in the net."
Irick said that his team played great overall and praised goalkeeper Ian Streckel for his efforts.
"He had a lot of pressure put on him and he stepped up to the challenge," he said. "But all of my kids did great tonight."
The JV Dawgs fall to 5-7 overall on the season.
Both teams will continue in district play tonight at Killeen Harker Heights, beginning with the junior varsity at 5:30 p.m.
Boys
District 13-5A Standings
Bryan 1-0 7-1-1
Temple 1-0 6-4-1
A&M Consol 1-0 6-5
Shoemaker 1-0 3-6
Harker Heights 0-1 5-3-2
Waco 0-1 4-4
Copperas Cove 0-1 1-3-1
Belton 0-1 4-6-1
Last game results – Temple 7, Copperas Cove 1; A&M Consolidated 3, Harker Heights 0; Shoemaker 2, Waco 1; Bryan 3, Belton 2
Tonight’s schedule – Copperas Cove at Harker Heights, 7 p.m.; Shoemaker vs. Bryan at Stephen F. Austin, 7 p.m.; A&M Consolidated at Temple, 7 p.m.; Belton at Waco, 7 p.m.
Girls
District 13-5A Standings
A&M Consol 1-0 8-4
Temple 1-0 5-5-3
Waco 1-0 3-8
Bryan 0-0 6-1-1
Belton 0-0 6-4
Copperas Cove 0-1 6-5-2
Harker Heights 0-1 3-6-2
Shoemaker 0-1 2-7
Last game results – Temple 3, Copperas Cove 0; Waco 3, Killeen Shoemaker 0; A&M Consolidated 1, Killeen Harker Heights 0; Belton at Bryan, late
Tonight’s schedule – Harker Heights at Copperas Cove, 7 p.m.; Temple at A&M Consolidated, 7 p.m.; Waco at Belton, 7 p.m.; Bryan at Shoemaker, 7 p.m.
Boxscores
Temple 3, Copperas Cove 1
2nd Half
C – 43:08 Shaye Haver / Unassisted (Run through middle)
Cove Non-Scoring Offensive Standouts—Jacky Lovejoy, Katie Eikenberg, Annie Poppel
Cove Defensive Standouts—Kristina Eikenberg, Courtney Poe, Bryne Welden, Kristen Terry
Cove Keeper—Joanna Cooper