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| Lady Coyotes clinch share of title at Cisco |
| Coyote News - Lady Coyote Basketball | |||
| Monday, 23 February 2009 00:00 | |||
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By Sally Sexton, Weatherford Democrat  Even with the absence of their leading scorer, the Weatherford College Lady Coyotes came out with a convincing win over Cisco Saturday afternoon, 79-65.WC clinched at least a share of the conference title with the victory. With eight players in the scoring column, three of them in double-digits, the Lady Coyotes put themselves in second in the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference. In order for things to remain that way, Weatherford needs Hill to win Saturday, which would put WC two games ahead of its nearest opponent. "If Hill wins, that will give us a two-game lead, and no matter what happens, we'll still be in a good spot," Weatherford head coach Bob McKinley said. The Lady Coyotes spent the first few minutes playing catch-up to Cisco, but took an 11-10 lead with 14:42 in the first period after Egidija Busaite's bucket. The score seesawed multiple times before the Lady Coyotes got to a four-point advantage seven minutes later when Busaite found an open Melissa Villalobos underneath the basket. WC used the momentum to stretch out to a 10-point game when Busaite, who finished with 21 points, knocked down a 3-pointer. The Lady Coyotes finished out the half on an 11-4 run to lead 40-23. "Egidija really picked it up tonight," McKinley said. "She made some really clutch baskets that helped us keep the lead and we had to have somebody pick it up tonight." Cisco began to claw its way back into the competition to start the second period, getting the deficit down to as few as seven points halfway through the period. Two minutes later, Cisco went on another run, cutting the score to 59-54, after back-to-back baskets, but WC was able to stop the bleeding with Brittani Wilkins' layup. Wilkins had 16 points on the day, and Krystal Jefferson finished with 12 points. The Lady Wranglers would threaten twice more, but never seriously, as Kayla Guidry's layup got the Lady Coyotes back up to a double-figure lead, at 73-63, with under two minutes to play. Despite turning the ball over 12 times, seven in the first half, Weatherford was able to maintain it's edge by taking advantage of Cisco's fouls. The Lady Coyotes were 24-of-30 from the free-throw line. "That's one of the things that came out good tonight," McKinley said. "We did shoot free throws a lot better than we had been." Weatherford played without starter Monique Burnham, who was nursing an ankle injury sustained earlier in the week. Weatherford 79, Cisco 65 CJC 23 42 - 65 WC 40 39 - 79 WC - Egidija Busaite 21, Brittani Wilkins 16, Krystal Jefferson 12, Kasondra Foreman 8, Saule Kontoutaite 7, Monica McGill 6, Kayla Guidry 5, Melissa Villalobos 4. 3-Pointers: WC- Busaite (2), Guidry. Free-throws: CC 20-27; WC 24-30.
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