Defending well beyond the 3-point line, Rudder senior post Deondra Young stole the ball, drove for a layup and completed a three-point play, keying a 9-0 run to help the Lady Rangers to a 68-42 win in District 19-5A action Friday afternoon at The Armory.
Rudder senior guard Tianna Mathis followed Young’s quick start with a pair of driving layups and a steal as the Lady Rangers stretched a 27-24 halftime lead into a 36-24 advantage less than a minute into the second half. Paetow never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way thanks to a Rudder defense that forced 11 turnovers in the third quarter.
“It’s a good thing when you know that your big man can come out of the paint and get the steal, get the ‘and-one’ and actually finish the three-point play,” said Mathis, who finished with a team-high 14 points. “It gives you an extra spark and lets the guards know we’ve got to step it up and help on defense also.”
Coming off a runner-up performance in the Aggieland Invitational last weekend, the Lady Rangers didn’t come out flat so much as they couldn’t buy a basket, especially in the first half.
Rudder made just 10 field goals in the first half and finished 27-of-81 (33.3%) from the floor, but the Lady Rangers outrebounded Paetow 55-39 and turned the ball over just four times to the Lady Panthers’ 28.
“I don’t know how many shots we missed right under the basket, but I know we missed a lot,” Rudder coach John Shelton said. “I really felt like if we kept doing what we do, then we were going to be OK because we were getting good shots in the first half — we just weren’t making them.
“We’re going to have to play a lot better than that if we’re going to beat [A&M Consolidated] on Tuesday night at their place.”
After Paetow cut Rudder’s lead to 38-28 with about 5 minutes left in the third quarter, Rudder clamped down again, ending the period on a 13-3 run. Cameron Richards and Mathis fueled a key stretch in the run as Richards hit one of her three 3-pointers then Mathis converted a steal into a layup. Richards capped it with a rebound and a layup on the other end for a 50-31 lead with just over a minute left in the period.
Young finished with 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds and three blocks, and Richards scored 13 points with eight rebounds. Mathis added six boards and a team-high five assists and four steals.
Sanae Smith scored 13 of Paetow’s 18 second-half points and finished with a game-high 21.
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Neither team fared well from the free-throw line as Rudder made 11 of 26 (42.3%) and Paetow went 0 for 7.
“I’m hoping it’s us just trying to get to playing at the level we were before Christmas,” Shelton said. “I’d rather have them playing like that in the second half than in the first half and then coming out flat in the second half, but we need to put four quarters together.”
Rudder 68, Katy Paetow 42
(Numbers after names indicate field goals made, free throws made-attempted, points.)
PAETOW — Paris Price 2 0-0 4; Tianna Murray 3 0-0 6; Sanae Smith 10 0-1 21; Kaitlyn Galer 2 0-0 5; Daisy Lira 0 0-2 0; Mya Suber 1 0-0 3; Tiara Hite 1 0-2 3; Alanah Woodard 0 0-2 0. TOTALS: 19-50 0-7 42 (FG%: .380 (19-50), FT%: .000).
RUDDER — Rakia Lee 2 0-0 4; Aliyah Johnson 1 1-2 3; Alexis Austin 1 0-2 2; Bryanna Turner 1 4-8 6; Asani McGee 3 3-6 9; Tiara Webber 1 0-0 2; Tianna Mathis 7 0-0 14; Cameron Richards 5 0-0 13; Keaundra Kelly 1 1-2 3; Deondra Young 5 2-6 12. TOTALS: 27-81 11-26 68 (FG%: .333, FT%: .423).
Paetow 14 10 7 11 — 42
Rudder 15 12 24 17 — 68
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