Sports and Outdoors

 Lake Info

Normal Lake Level is 322.00 feet above Mean Sea Level.
Current level for Cedar Creek Lake is: 322.07 Water Temperature:
47  degrees - top
43 degrees - bottom

Monitor Photo/Kerry Yancey
Kemp's Amanda Lawrence (on floor) comes up with a loose ball following a scramble with a Mineola defender, as teammates Kandace Rose (50) and Brittany Simmons (right) stand ready during the second half of the hosting Lady Yellowjackets' 51-35 District 14-3A basketball win over Mineola Tuesday.

Canton eased past hosting Van, 56-32, Tuesday night, dropping Van to 0-4 in district play.
Tuesday, Jan. 26, the Kemp girls will visit Van for the second-round opener, and then stay on the road to face Wills Point Friday, Jan. 29. Wills Point (1-3) squeaked past Eustace Tuesday night, 38-36 (see related story, page 1B).
Next Tuesday, Feb. 2, the Kemp girls will host Eustace, and then will travel to Mineola Friday, Feb. 5, before a season-ending showdown with Canton in Kemp Tuesday, Feb. 9.
Tuesday night’s win kept the Kemp girls unbeaten (8-0) at home. All seven of their losses have come on the road, four of them at the Gatesville tournament last month.
Kemp opened Tuesday night’s game with “an almost perfect quarter defensively,” outscoring Mineola 21-2, with Mineola’s only basket coming in the final 15 seconds off a steal.
“Our defense held them scoreless almost the entire period, causing multiple turnovers off the press, along with steals in the half-court,” Kemp coach Kent Smith said later.
“We kept them off-balance the entire game with our full-court pressure, causing 32 turnovers and generating 15 steals,” Smith added. “However, offensively, we got cold.”
Mineola outscored Kemp 11-8 in the second quarter and 10-7 in the third as Kemp had shot after shot clang off the iron.
While Mineola never managed to cut the lead to single digits (the closest they got was 13 points, 36-23, going into the fourth quarter), Smith had some anxious moments before the Lady ’Jackets began to pull away late in the fourth quarter.
“We did have some problems converting the turnovers into points during the second and third quarters, but our defense was solid,” Smith said.
Kemp junior Michelle Ritterbach continued her MVP-quality play, leading all scorers with 19 points (including a trio of 3-point baskets), nine rebounds, two steals and two assists, while senior Amanda Lawrence finished with 13 points (two treys), six rebounds, two steals and two assists.
Senior Brittany Simmons finished with nine points (one trey), five assists, three steals and added a charge to her state-leading total of 23.
Junior post Shannon Shipp finished with five points, seven rebounds and two steals, while senior Brandy Simmons finished with five rebounds, three steals and an assist.

TVCC volleyball signings revealed
Special to The Monitor
ATHENS–The first volleyball team at Trinity Valley Community College is starting to take shape.
Coach Tosha Spain has announced the first the first six signings for the Lady Cardinals, who will make the program’s debut in the fall this year.
Among the six are two Henderson County area athletes – Malakoff’s Gentry Garrison and Cayuga’s Chelsea Brown.
Garrison, who was a superlative honoree on the Athens Daily Review’s All-Henderson County Volleyball Team, is a 5-6 setter. Brown is a 5-2 defensive specialist.
Joining Garrison and Brown in the first group of first-ever Lady Cardinal signees are Kiresten Cox (5-9, outside hitter) of Fairfield, Brianna Young (5-11, middle blocker) of Hallsville, BreAnn Halcumb (5-6, defensive specialist) of Carthage and Kelsie Brown (6-0, middle blocker) of Longview.
“I am very excited about the recruiting class,” Spain (a former Eustace High School standout) said. “I have recruited a lot of quickness, which is what I was looking for. And with this group of girls, I will have that.
“I also want our defense to be able to react very quickly to situations and be smart on reading other offenses, which I got with this group as well,” Spain added.
Spain also said the group was hard workers both on the court and in the classroom.
More signings will be announced soon, she added. The Lady Cardinal roster will include up to 14 players.