With the 47-33 loss to the Andrews on Feb. 7, the Maiden basketball team finished the district season with a 5-3 record behind Greenwood in first and Andrews in second.
Coach Dickie Faught would have preferred a victory to end the district run before playoffs.
“It would have been nice to end the season with a win,” Faught said. “But we have a 5-3 record, and we got third place in district.”
Seniors would have liked a win to end their last regular season.
“Losing was not the way we wanted to end district,” senior guard Myka Alvidrez said. “We were hoping to end with a win, come in second and then go from there.”
The Maidens will face District 3-3A runner up Clint in bi-district action at 6 p.m. on Feb. 13 at Sul Ross University in Alpine. The Clint Lady Lions have an overall 12-17 record and a 7-3 district mark.
“I haven’t heard anything about Clint being a tough opponent,” junior guard Kaleen Sarli said, “but we have to be prepared for anything. I think we’ll win the game, but I’m just hoping for the best.”
The Maidens still continue to work on problem areas in their offense and defense.
“One of our strengths [in the Andrews game was that] the girls competed hard in the first two and a half quarters,” Faught said. “They didn’t defend the ball. There are not as many positives as negatives.”
Knowing that the playoffs are a sudden death situation is motivation for the Maidens.
“[In bi-district], I hope we play with intensity and with our heads screwed on straight,” Alvidrez said. “We know that we have to win, or we’re out.”
The pressure of winning a play-off game is a major motivator.
“We haven’t talked about [Clint being a tough opponent],” Alvidrez said. “I’m thinking they’ll come out strong because Clint wants to go far, too.”
Though the Clint game isn’t until Monday, Faught is already looking farther to an area match up.
“If we win against Clint, we’ll have an even tougher opponent in Lubbock Cooper,” Faught said. “They’re rank fifth or sixth in the state so they’re really good.”
The Maidens are scheduled to play a practice game versus Slaton in Brownfield at 6 tonight.