Sports and Outdoors

 Lake Info

Normal Lake Level is 322.00 feet above Mean Sea Level.
Current level for Cedar Creek Lake is: 321.87
Water Temperature:
53 degrees

WILLS POINT–Mabank’s Panthers used a strong fourth-quarter push to defeat the Brownsboro Bears 56-48 in a bidistrict playoff contest at Wills Point Tuesday.
The win propelled the Panthers (21-10) into an area championship contest against 10th-ranked Pittsburg at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Robert E. Lee High School in Tyler.
Brownsboro, which returned to the playoffs after 10 years’ absence, finished the season at 15-18 and the District 14-3A third-place playoff berth.
Senior guard Albin Gashi scored 12 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Panthers turn a two-point game into an eight-point victory.
The game remained close during the first three quarters, as the Panthers opened a 15-11 lead behind five points from Kolton Browning and four by Gashi.

Monitor Photo/Randal Brewer
Mabank Panther senior guard Albin Gashi (white uniform) forces Brownsboro guard Andrew Adair to travel during Mabank’s 56-48 bidistrict championship win over the Bears Tuesday in Wills Point.

Both teams matched baskets in the second quarter, and the Panthers still held a slim lead, 28-23, at halftime.
In the third quarter, Brownsboro forged a 9-2 run to close within two points of the Panthers at 38-36, but Gashi took over down the stretch, scoring 12 of Mabank’s final 16 points.
Along with Gashi’s 22 points, Browning finished with 16 points. They were the only Panthers scoring in double figures.
Tyler Fisher scored six points, both Caleb McKee and Haydon Blair added four points each, and both Oliver Wedemeyer and Tray Phillips added two points each.
Tristain Warren led the Bears with 14 points and 15 rebounds, while Andrew Adair added 11 points.
Mabank’s win came in the first game of a double-header at Wills Point. In the nightcap, District 14-3A runner-up Van defeated the 13-3A third-place Ferris Yellowjackets 63-58.
The Vandals got 28 points (including five 3-point baskets) from senior guard Aric Stroop and 10 points and eight rebounds from Jermie Calhoun.
 

Bass-raising seminar set
Special to The Monitor
ATHENS–“What good does it do to grow big fish if you can’t catch them?” asks a Texas AgriLife Extension Service fisheries expert.
The answer is “no good at all,” if you’re a landowner managing a pond or lake for bigmouth bass, Dr. Billy Higginbotham, AgriLife Extension wildlife and fisheries expert, said.
Higginbotham is one of the organizers of the upcoming two-day event “The Largemouth Bass: Better Fishing Through Private Water Management,” set March 28-29 at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens.
The event will feature some of the best known bass experts from the South.
“To my knowledge, there is no other event on managing for the largemouth bass that is as comprehensive as this one in any of the Southern states,” Higginbotham said.
The program has been designed primarily for landowners who manage their own water impoundments for bass fishing, Higginbotham said.
Program topics will include basic bass pond management info – water quality, controlling aquatic weeds, bass diseases and parasites, fertilization and feeding, and fish-stocking strategies.
But there also will be sessions on cutting-edge bass management, such as current efforts by Barry Smith to breed the largest “catch-able” bass possible, Higginbotham said.
Smith, who is one of the founders of the American Sport Fish Hatchery in Alabama, has been crossing northern and Florida strains of bass, then selecting for size and catch-ability.
It is generally accepted, Higginbotham said, that though Florida bass can grow larger than northern bass strains, the Florida lines are much harder to catch.
For example, the Texas record largemouth bass weighed 13 pounds in 1980, when northern bass genetics were dominant.
The current world record bass weighed more than 22 pounds, and the current state record, now that Texas bass are heavily influenced by Florida genetics, is more than 18 pounds, Higginbotham said.
“This should be a must-see for anyone wanting to raise really big bass in their ponds that they can actually catch,” he said.
Other parts of the program will be about the science behind modern bass research, he said.
Participants will be treated to a presentation on how to determine the age of a bass by examining its ear bones. Another tour will give a behind-the-scenes view of the center’s bass spawning facility.
Registration for the event is $60 per person before Saturday, March 15, and $90 per person between March 15-28.
For more information, or to register, check the website http://agrilifevents.tamu.edu,  or call (979) 845-2604.
Alternately, participants may mail a check to Texas AgriLife Extension Conference Services, 2139 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-2139. Make the check payable to “Account 07-254100-60001.”
Additional info can be obtained by contacting Higginbotham at (903) 834-6191, or e-mail bhigginbotham@tamu.edu,  or Michael Masser at (979) 845-7370, or e-mail mmasser@tamu.edu.
The event is sponsored by AgriLife Extension, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Henderson County Wildlife Committee.
 

Jackson takes 2nd, Busby 3rd at rodeo
Monitor Staff Reports
TERRELL–The Lone Star High School Rodeo Association hosted its 19th rodeo of the season Feb. 16 at Wade’s Arena in Terrell. Cedar Creek Lake area high school students competed in various events.
Dustin Jackson of Mabank High School took second place in boys ribbon roping and Marcus Emmons of Eustace High School received a no time.
Jackson and Emmons also each received no time in calf roping.
Jackson also received no times in team roping as both the header and the heeler.
Kelsie Busby of Mabank High School took third place in poles and Nicole Harrison of Kemp High School finished seventh.
Busby received a no time in steer undecorating, while Harrison finished 15th in barrels.
Josh McClintock of Kemp High School took fourth place in bareback.
At the Feb. 9 LSHSRA rodeo, Jackson took 10th place in chute dogging.