From Staff Reports
The Cleburne Yellow Jackets nearly pulled off a big comeback win on Friday at Yellow Jacket Stadium against Stephenville, but fell, 62-56, to the Honeybees.
Cleburne (3-3) trailed by as many as 23 in the contest to Stephenville (4-0), and fell behind, 33-15, at halftime.
“They shot the ball real well in the first half,” Lady Jacket head coach Mitzi Marquart said. “We didn’t. We had too many turnovers and we let their pressure defense affect us.
“We stepped up in fourth and started playing very aggressive and made a run at them.”
Entering the final period, Cleburne found itself trailing, 46-25, but the Lady Jackets roared back with 31 points in the period with senior shooting guard Jacqueline Chandler scoring 18 of her 27 points on the night in the quarter.
Marquart said it was too little, too late for Cleburne, who sliced the lead to four at one point in the period.
Ralling from a 20-plus point deficit shows heart, Marquart said, especially against a solid team.
“They’re very competitive, and a very strong team,” Marquart said. “They play in a strong district and they have good inside and outside presence. We just didn’t play three quarters well.
“We got in foul trouble and made quite a few mistakes and we had to battle it out. It would’ve been easy for us to give up with us being down by at least 23 at one point, and we showed a lot of heart and character.”
Jessie Richardson also reached double figures for Cleburne with 10 points, while Chasity Ward had eight on night.
Marquart said the loss illustrates a solid effort is required throughout the entire of the game, and not just for a few quarters at a time.
“What I hope it shows us is that we need to be consistent by quarters,” Marquart said. “We didn’t have enough time to pull it out, but I’m proud of their effort. What I saw was good and I’m proud of the kids for not giving up.
“They gave themselves a shot and it could’ve bounced our way. Hopefully, down the road, having to play these types of games will give us the experience that we need to face that kind of defense.”
Marquart said teams in District 16-4A won’t be able to get in the Lady Jackets’ faces on the defensive end, either.
“We didn’t handle it well the first two quarters,” Marquart said. “I know that Waxahachie and some of those teams will be up in our face.
“It’s good experience to kind of battle and learn to play with that kind of pressure in our faces.”
Cleburne takes the court again at 7:30 p.m. at home against Paschal with a chance to move to 4-3.
