KHS girls get big win; boys lose to Hallsville

Photo by Lester Murray LOOK OUT! — Kilgore seniors Xavian Sanders (right) and Devaron Harvey (left) surround Hallsville's Sheldon Gleezen (22) as he takes the ball to the hoop Friday night at KHS gymnasium. The Bobcats came away with a 58-42 win in Kilgore's final non-district game of the schedule. The Bulldogs will host Lindale on Tuesday night in the District 14-4A opener for both teams. The KHS girls scored a big win Friday at Nacogodches, evening their district record at 1-1. Kilgore's Lady Bulldogs will also be home Tuesday, also hosting Lindale. In their final non-district game of the season, as they prepared for the district run, the Kilgore High School varsity boys basketball team gave former district rival Hallsville a run for its money.

In Nacogdoches, the KHS girls regained a bit of confidence with a huge win.

Both Kilgore High basketball programs will be home Tuesday night hosting Lindale — the Lady Bulldogs will be playing their third game of the District 14-4A schedule, while the 'Dogs will play their opener. Game time is 5 p.m., with varsity teams going on last — the girls will play around 6:30 p.m., the boys to follow.

• Kilgore 50, Nac 48 (girls): After dropping the district opener at home Tuesday night, and considering the difficult district in which they play, Friday's game at Nacogdoches was just about a must-win for coach Davia Garrett's Kilgore girls. They pulled it off with help from a huge night from Raven Wiley, one of four Kilgore players to score in double figures in the contest.

Nac did give KHS a little scare late, as Meocian Pleasant hit a three-point shot with 14 seconds left to bring the Lady Dragons within three, 50- 47. Nac had to foul, and Airren Blankenship missed the free throw.

Nac's Destinee Agnew got the rebound, got the ball to Pleasant again, but this time, Pleasant was fouled. She needed to hit all three free throws to tie the game, and hit the first but missed the second. Game over.

Without question, Kilgore dominated in the rebounding category, grabbing 66 to Nac's 29. Kilgore had 26 offensive rebounds.

Wiley had 20 points and 16 of those rebounds, both season highs. Kearia Rayson scored 12, had nine rebounds and six assists. Blankenship also had 10 points and had 14 rebounds. Senior Kitt Sechrist had 14 rebounds. Andrea Ashley had 10.

Pleasant led Nac with 20 points, and Chelsea Leeder, Nac's leading scorer, had 16.

Kilgore had led 27-18 at the half.

• Hallsville 58, Kilgore 42 (boys): This one was more like a track meet than a basketball game. The game began at 8:02 p.m. on Friday night, and finished about an hour later. The first half was almost foul-free, and was played in less than 25 minutes.

Hallsville, expected to be a primary contender in District 13-4A, outscored Kilgore 13-4 in the final 4:07 of the first period, led 20-10 going into the second period, and had a pretty good feel from long range. The Bobcats hit eight threepointers, five from Chase Jordan (who finished with 17 points).

Kilgore was pretty respectable from three-point range, as well — senior Chris Ward hit three of them, and Xavian Sanders, Shaun Williams and Matthew Dickey each hit one.

But Kilgore trailed 35-24 at halftime, and Hallsville's first shot of the second half, from way out by Ryan Rawson, was a long three. It sank just 14 seconds in, and put Hallsville up 38-24. Kilgore cut the lead to 12 on a few occasions, but couldn't get closer.

For KHS, Ward led with 11 points. He also had seven rebounds. Sanders added seven, and had three rebounds. A host of players — Drake Bickham, Williams, Patrick Colbert, and Dickey — had five points each.

Bickham, a senior, had seven rebounds, two assists and two steals; Williams had three rebounds and three steals; Colbert had six rebounds and three blocked shots; and Dickey had two rebounds, a steal and an assist.

Devaron Harvey scored four points, and Kaleb "K.B." Brisendine played well defensively, and had an assist. Brisendine, Williams, and Dickey are just freshmen, and Colbert is only a sophomore.