Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Wolverines point guard Baylee Sours scores game-high 19 points.
Logan's Kaylee Foote takes a shot against the defense of Texico senior Jasmine Gannon in the second quarter.
By Kevin Wilson
ENMN managing editor
PORTALES - If the Logan Longhorns and Texico Wolverines find themselves back on the floor of The Pit in the final weekend of the prep basketball season, they'll likely have none other to thank than their Greyhound Arena counterpart.
The teams met for the first time Saturday at Eastern New Mexico University since they last met in the same place in 2016 - the Eastern Plains Athletic Conference title game. And Texico won again, this time 45-36 behind a game-high 19 from point guard Baylee Sours.
Sours scored nine of her points in a 15-6 third quarter that broke things open for Texico (10-4), then hit a nail-in-the-coffin three-pointer with just over three minutes to play for a 42-31 lead.
"She's a great kid," Texico coach Richard Luscombe said of Sours. "Does everything you ask her to do and a little bit more. I was hoping I could hide here and keep her a secret. But I don't think that's going to last very long. She's really turned into a floor leader for us."
It's no secret to Logan coach Rhyan Daugherty, who has been in the EPAC title game both of his seasons at Logan and is hoping to get the Longhorns back in the 2A title game as well.
"That No. 4 has really come around as a player," Daugherty said. "I was watching her all week. She hands the ball really well, she can really shoot the three, and she makes the pass when she needs to make it. She's a good guard."
The Longhorns (10-2), led by Karli Webb's 14, could never quite get into a rhythm and turned the ball over 37 times against a versatile Texico defense.
"Their press flustered us," Daugherty said. "That zone press got us, and we threw the ball away too much.
"That's a smart team. They're playing zone, and then without Luscombe doing anything, they go to a man. It was completely throwing us off."
Logan returned the favor though. With Webb, Kaylee Foote and Harlie Roach providing interior size, Texico struggled to get the ball to senior Jasmine Gannon, who had to work all night for her 13 points and seven boards.
"Our philosophy is that we're going to get her the ball," said Luscombe, who grabbed his 601st career win and extended his record to 11 EPAC coaching titles. "We wanted to run our offense better to get her the ball where she has one-on-one matchups. We rushed our offense a lot. We're shooting the ball much better from the perimeter, so maybe that will open things up a bit."
Luscombe said it's unusual to see a Class 3A team with the height that Class 2A Logan has, and it makes the Longhorns a difficult task for whoever has the misfortune of seeing them going forward.
"They do a lot of great things," Luscombe said. "They are a tough matchup. There aren't many teams that can match up with that secondary (post), and their guards are good."
Logan, meanwhile, will miss Texico's balanced attack.
"I wish we could play Texico five times," Daugherty said. "A team like that's going to help us as we try to get back to state. Of course, we've got a really tough district."