LOCAL SPORTS IN BRIEF
BY SPORTS EDITOR MITCH LUCAS
BASKETBALL

Kilgore College teams at Panola tonight

The Kilgore College basketball programs are both playing in Carthage at Panola College tonight, fighting for their conference tournament lives.

Coach Roy Thomas' Lady Rangers (10-14 overall, 4-12 in Region XIV Conference play) faces Panola at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Rangers are two games out of sixth place in the women's standings, and need to be in sixth to get into the women's tournament. They've got to win their last two games (tonight and next Tuesday at home against Lon Morris) to have a chance.

The Runnin' Rangers, coached by Scott Schumacher, are 14-13 overall, 6-13 in conference play, and need to be in the top eight in the conference standings to make the tournament. KC's men have three games left: tonight at Panola, Saturday at Navarro, and Tuesday at home against Lon Morris. The Rangers need to win all three games and have Panola lose all three of its remaining games to get into the conference tournament, to be played here at Masters Gym the weekend of March 7-10.

Hear tonight's games live on the radio on KZQX 105.3-FM, or on the internet at tsrnsports. com, the Texas Sports Radio Network website. The action on both is the call by the "Voice of the Rangers," Manny Almanza.

Kilgore's youth league championships Saturday

The Kilgore Youth Basketball Association will play its championship games on Saturday at Kilgore High School's gymnasium. Admission is free.

The boys' second-third place game will be at 9 a.m., with the fourth-fifth place game at 10. The title game will be at 11, and a championship presentation, sponsored by East Texas Hardware, will follow at noon.

The girls' second-third place game is scheduled for 1 p.m., the fourth-fifth place game at 2, and the championship game at 3, followed by an awards presentation at 4, sponsored by East Texas Lumber.

Parents, grandparents and everyone else can come out to KHS for a fun day of KYBA basketball.

SOFTBALL

Kilgore wins second straight; JV wins, too

The Kilgore High School Lady Bulldogs softball team picked up its second straight victory on Tuesday at Eustace, a 12-6 win.

Kilgore (2-5 overall this season) will play in the Spring Hill/White Oak tournament this weekend, beginning tomorrow morning, ironically, against Eustace, a 10 a.m. first-pitch. The Lady 'Dogs will turn around and play at noon against Van. Both of those games will be at Spring Hill High School.

Because of a team dropping out of the tournament, Kilgore's junior varsity will also play in the Spring Hill/White Oak tournament against varsity competition. The KHS JV will play at 4 p.m. against Spring Hill, and at 6 p.m. against New Diana. Kilgore's JV also beat Eustace on Tuesday night, 12-1.

In the varsity game, Kilgore saw a 4-0 lead evaporate, but then came back and got back in front, then held on for the victory.

"The girls did a great job last night," said head coach Cassie Newell, in her second season. "We didn't have a runner on base until the third inning, then went up 4-0. (Eustace) came back and went up 6-4, but our girls never got down. ...Besides the fourth inning, where we gave up the six runs, we played very well. I'm really proud of how we never quit."

Chelsea Warren pitched the first 4 2/3 innings for KHS. She struck out four. Meagan Youngblood came in with bases loaded. But Youngblood wound up doing well, finishing the game with six strikeouts.

KHS sophomore Navjit Kaur had her first hit of the season, a bases-clearing double with two outs in the top of the fourth, a 3-RBI hit. She had a single in her next at-bat, in the fifth inning. She finished 2-for-3, with a run scored.

Junior Candace Meadows had a triple, and finished 2-for-2 with two walks, and scored twice. Shae Morgan, a senior, went 2-for-3, including a double, and also scored twice. Morgan had two stolen bases in the contest. Almost every KHS player who played had a hit.

Following tomorrow's busy day in the tournament, Kilgore will jump right back in on Friday. The varsity Lady 'Dogs play at 10 against an opponent to be determined, then face New Diana at 2.

The Spring Hill/White Oak tournament is the last non-district action for Kilgore this season. The girls open District 12-4A play on Monday at Henderson, and then finally play a home game next Friday, March 7 against Marshall.

Sabine falls to Henderson

A couple of days after beating Henderson, 1-0, the Sabine High School Lady Cardinals committed six errors, and lost to the Lady Lions, 7-1, on Tuesday night.

Sabine (3-4 this year) actually out-hit Henderson, getting seven hits to Henderson's six. But the Lady Cards lost Cassie Headley in the game to an injury, and things went downhill from there.

Sabine's Sandy James pitched all seven innings for the Lady Cardinals. She struck out 13, walked two and hit three batters. James had a pair of singles, as did Lindsey Bryce. Chelsea Headley had a single, and Alex Easley had a double and a single.

Sabine will play in the Lear Park Tournament in Longview this weekend, beginning at 11 a.m. tomorrow morning against Pine Tree. Sabine will play at 5 p.m. tomorrow against Texas High.

On Friday, Sabine faces Benton (La.) at 11 a.m., and Magnolia High School at 3. And on Saturday, the Lady Cards will play at 9 a.m. against Pflugerville-Hendricks, and at 9 p.m. - quite a layoff - against, believe it or not - Henderson.

KYSA sign-up starts Saturday

Registration for the spring season of the Kilgore Youth Softball Association (KYSA) will begin Saturday, and will be held several days throughout the first portion of March.

Registration will be held at the sports complex on Highway 135 (that's also where games are played) at the red building. There is a registration fee of $75 per player, with discounts after registering two players from the same household.

The first registration day is this Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the sports complex. There are two more Saturday registration days: March 1 and March 8, both from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

There are also a pair of mid-week registration days: Tuesday, Feb. 26 (from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.) and Tuesday, March 4 (from 4 p.m. until 6).

There will be no late registration this year.

For more information on KYSA, contact Evelyn Stokes at (903) 984-8704, or see the KYSA website at kysakilgore.org.

GOLF

KHS girls finish Brook Hill tourney

In cold, windy weather, the Kilgore High School girls golf team got a 93 from Courtney Hodgkins on Tuesday in the Brook Hill Invitational at Eagles Bluff Country Club.

Courtney Plaisance shot a 115, and Shelby Elder a 120 for Kilgore, coached by Jimmy Williams.

"Those were really tough conditions," Williams said. "The kids did a good job."