Marshall sweeps KHS
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Sabine girls lose district opener
By MITCH LUCAS sports@kilgorenewsherald.com

It was another disappointing night on Friday for the Kilgore High School basketball program, with both teams falling to Marshall, the Lady Bulldogs falling on the road and the boys losing at home.

Both KHS teams are in a bit of a hole in District 17-4A. The Bulldogs, which just opened district play early this week with a loss to Nacogdoches, lost 5542 last night, and are now 0-2 in district play. Coach Brady Gage’s team is 7-11 overall.

The Lady Bulldogs (10-11) are 1-4 against district competition, but three of those losses have been very close, including Friday night’s 50-43 defeat at the hands of the Lady Mavericks.

KHS trailed 34-17 at the halftime break, but allowed just 16 second-half points. Coach Tracy Kincade’s team pulled within four points with a minute and a half left in the game.

But Marshall’s Latroya Robinson hit a big bucket with 41 seconds left, putting Marshall up by six — 49-43 — and all but killed the KHS comeback.

No point totals for the Lady Bulldogs were available at press time, but the Lady ’Dogs do have plenty of time — and games — left to work themselves back into the playoff picture.

There’s a tough game Tuesday night at home against Pine Tree (18-4 overall, 5-0 in district play). Freshmen will play at 5 p.m. and junior varsity and varsity will follow. Then, the girls travel to Hallsville on Friday night.

In all, KHS has nine more district games left this season. The top three teams from the district will make the playoffs.

 Marshall 55, KHS 42 (boys): It was another lengthy scoring run by the opposition that doomed the Bulldogs to lose Friday night at home.

Kilgore’s Jaron Shepherd hit one of two free throws with 25 seconds left in the first half to tie the game at 23, but the Mavs had plenty of time to set up a shot, and they did so, with Kenneth Webb hitting a threepointer at the buzzer, literally, to give the Mavs the halftime lead of 26-23.

The opening three minutes of the third period, though, was what proved to be Kilgore’s undoing.

Marshall’s Blue Howard took the ball to the hoop and drew a Kilgore foul just moments into the second half. Howard hit both free throws, igniting the Mavs into scoring the first 12 points of the second half — 15 straight points.

A three-pointer by Kilgore senior Cody Shead with 4:55 left in the third period stopped the Mavs’ scoring run, but the damage had been done. Kilgore did cut the lead to seven points by the end of the third period (a basket by Kendrick Brown and two free throws by Greg Pegues helped). But the Bulldogs could get no closer.

Hat’s off to Wayne Daniels, who had played for the West All-Stars on Thursday night in the Max Emfinger High School All-Star Classic, a national high school allstar football game — and then played for the Bulldogs on the court on Friday, not even 24 hours later. Daniels finished with seven points, eight rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal.

For KHS, Shead led the way with 14 points. He also had a rebound and grabbed two steals. Pegues finished with four points, a block and a rebound. Cord Darden, Brown and Shepherd each finished with three points — Darden had a rebound, Brown had four rebounds and a steal, and Shepherd had a rebound.

Collin Landers, Eric King, Jeremy Sanders and Mike Jones each scored two points. King had a steal and a rebound, and Sanders had a rebound.

Marshall’s Jamarcus Sparks put on a rebounding clinic, finishing with 12 rebounds and three steals, and scored 14 points, all the points coming in the second half. Webb finished with 12, and Howard 10. Junior Osbourne scored six.

The Bulldogs will travel to Pine Tree on Tuesday night, then host Hallsville on Friday. The ’Dogs still have the bulk of the district schedule to play.

 Gladewater 54, Sabine 43 (girls): The Sabine Lady Cardinals opened their District 13-3A schedule on the road, falling at Gladewater in a game closer than the final score indicates.

For Sabine (9-11 overall, 0-1 in 13-3A), Lacey James led with 19 points, two steals and three rebounds. Rachel Rutland scored seven points and also had two rebounds. Sandy James and Katie Kossa each scored four points, and Marlana Brittain, three. Samantha Jackson scored only two points, but had 10 steals, six assists and seven rebounds.

The Lady Cardinals will try to get their first district win at home Tuesday night against Pittsburg.