Lady Longhorns dominate Coyotes

LOGAN - Both the San Jon and Logan girls basketball teams were missing key players due to illness. How they responded couldn't have been more different.

The Lady Longhorns, missing potent eighth-grader Desta Rose, dominated from start to finish in a 60-14 victory over the Lady Coyotes during a district clash Jan. 24.

Logan made nine 3-pointers, including five by Hailee Robertson in a 15-point performance. Kyra Conway scored a team-high 16 points. In all, nine players scored for Logan.

Logan coach Glynna Strand received word that morning that Rose, who in several games has led the team in scoring, was sick.

That didn't seem to slow the Lady Longhorns, who stormed to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and led by 25 at intermission. At one point in the second half, Logan scored 18 unanswered points.

"We executed things pretty well," Strand said. "We hit some good threes, and Hailie was on fire. We got everybody a lot of playing time. Hopefully, that's going to continue."

Meanwhile, San Jon coach Jaree Elliott said her team didn't respond well to the absence of Karlee Elliott, who was out with a non-COVID stomach ailment.

Coach Elliott said Bailey McEwen and Dakota Fisher played a solid game, but Chantzee Elliott and Sarah Archuleta struggled with their nerves.

"They feel like that because Karlee is not here, they have to do more, be more," she said. "Usually when you have that mentality, you're working opposite of where you should be."

McEwen led San Jon with five points.

While acknowledging her players are young, coach Elliott had a long talk in the locker room with her squad after the game.

"I told them, 'We beat ourselves. We took ourselves out of the game,'" she said. "Maybe the game wasn't going to be us winning on the scoreboard tonight, but we took ourselves out of our ballgame. We played very fragmented. We weren't a team.

"When we have nights when we're in our head like that, not only does it take you out of the game, but it's like a good girl being taken off the floor, as well."

Fort Sumner-House 41, Logan 40

The Vixens took a one-game lead in the district standings with a 41-40 win at home Saturday against Logan.

Strand indicated it was a win that got away from the Lady Longhorns (16-4, 3-1).

"We were up 13 at half and just didn't play good defense or execute our offenses in the second half," she said.

Reece Goldston and Robertson each scored 13 points to lead Logan.

The loss snapped Logan's winning streak at nine.

The Vixens (14-2, 4-0) avenged an earlier loss to the Lady Longhorns on Jan. 8 in the championship game of the Plateau-EPAC tournament.

Logan hosts Fort Sumner-House for another district clash Feb. 12.

Logan 55, Grady 15

The Lady Longhorns rolled to a 55-15 district victory Thursday at Grady.

Goldston led Logan with 15 points, and Robertson added 12.

"We came out strong and played well," Strand said.

Grady fell to 6-10, 0-3.

Grady 50, San Jon 40

The host Lady Bronchos jumped to a 7-0 advantage early in their district game Saturday and held the lead the rest of the way in a 50-40 win over San Jon.

Juanita Ramirez led Grady (7-10, 1-3) with 14 points, while Shayla White added 13 and Taylor Foote 11.

Chanztee Elliott scored 21 points to lead the Lady Coyotes (4-7, 0-3).

Karlee Elliott returned to the San Jon lineup after missing two games due to illness. But San Jon began to struggle with foul trouble in the second half about the time it made a run at Grady.

"I definitely think the fact that we haven't had our entire team together in the gym for more than a handful of games over the last several weeks was a factor" in the loss, coach Elliott said. "Silly fouls and have to have two or three of our starters on the bench at the same time during games is very detrimental."

Fort Sumner-House 44, San Jon 17

The host Lady Coyotes were dominated by the Vixens on Jan. 25, who are in the running for a district title.

San Jon scored only one point in the first half while Fort Sumner scored 30. Chantzee Elliott led the Lady Coyotes with seven points.

Coach Elliott said her team played better than it did against Logan, though it still was without Karlee Elliott due to an illness. Foul trouble also hampered the Lady Coyotes in the second quarter.

"We moved the ball on offense about as good as I have seen them all year, especially against Fort Sumner's great defense," she said. "We took a lot of good shots that didn't fall. I was proud of our defense and how they handled Fort Sumner's fast-paced offense and cuts.

"We missed a lot of looks on offense due to youth and nerves, but they also saw and did a lot of things that were new to them, so it's a process. We did awful on free throws, which could have closed the gap a lot more."

For the Vixens, 11 players scored.