Sports and Outdoors

 Lake Info

Normal Lake Level is 322.00 feet above Mean Sea Level.
Current level for Cedar Creek Lake is: 320.68
Water Temperature:
na degrees - top
82 degrees - bottom

Kerens nips Mabank in 2OTs
Monitor Staff Reports
MABANK–A stirring comeback led by junior Jeanice Mojica fell just short in double overtime Tuesday, as the visiting Kerens Lady Bobcats edged the Mabank Lady Panthers 87-83 in the season opener for both teams.
The Lady Panthers were scheduled to host Wills Point Friday night.
At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, the Lady Panthers will host the Copperas Cove Lady Bulldogs. Friday, Nov. 21, Mabank will go on the road to Spring Hill, opening a three-game slate with a 4:30 p.m. freshman contest.
Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 24-25, the Mabank girls will have two road contests, as they visit Canton Monday and Van Tuesday, each evening opening with a 4:30 p.m. freshman game.
At home Tuesday, the Lady Panthers took a 17-12 lead behind very balanced scoring, as seven of the 10 Mabank players put points on the board.
In the second quarter, the Lady Bobcats closed the gap behind a 3-point basket from BreAnna Lawrence and six points from Nicole Kelm, trailing by two at halftime, 30-28.
Kerens took the lead with a 25-14 third-quarter run, keyed by eight points from Michell Jordan and six points each from Taneque Williams and Tambreshia Polk.
Mabank countered with another balanced scoring effort, with six different players hitting baskets.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Panthers began turning to Mojica, who scored 21 of her game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter and overtime periods.
Mojica had 12 points as the Lady Panthers outscored Kerens 23-14 in the fourth quarter, tying the contest at 67 at the end of regulation.
During the two overtime periods, the Lady Bobcats outscored the Lady Panthers 20-16 behind Kelm (who hit 5-of-6 from the free-throw line) and Lawrence.
Mabank countered with nine points from Mojica and the efforts of another returning starter, Lauren Hamilton, who scored five of her 11 points in overtime.
In addition to Mojica’s 31 points and Hamilton’s 11, Ashley Hammack also scored 11 points for the Lady Panthers, while Chelsea Alldredge finished with nine, Sara Springer had six, and Sarah Gilbert, Whitney Cathey and Cheyenne Alldredge all scored two points each.
Kelm led Kerens with 25 points, while Jordan had 17, Michelle Bivins added 14 and Lawrence finished with 12.

Princeton knocks out Lady Bulldogs
By Kerry Yancey
Monitor Staff Writer
QUINLAN–Eustace’s volleyball playoff run came to a halt Tuesday when the Princeton Lady Panthers took a narrow 3-1 win in a regional quarterfinals contest.
Playing in front of around 800 fans in Quinlan High School’s gym, the Lady Panthers got the benefit of some odd officiating, drawing complaints from most of the Eustace fans.
While most volleyball coaches are not very demonstrative, Princeton coach Donald McIntyre routinely yelled and gestured as he prowled the sideline a couple of steps from the court, and almost continually spoke to the floor official, in stark contrast to veteran Eustace coach Chuck Powers, who rarely left his seat, except to huddle with his players.
The payoff came in the fourth game, when Princeton took advantage of some questionable calls to forge a small, but significant, lead.
Princeton opened the match with a 25-19 win in the first game, but the Lady Bulldogs came back to win the second game 25-18.
In the third game, the Lady Bulldogs suffered numerous unforced errors, and fell 25-13.
The fourth game proved to be extremely close, with four lead changes and 10 ties.
After Princeton took a 2-1 lead, the Lady Bulldogs came back to take a 4-2 lead on a block by Krysta Lowry and Camille Rogers.
A tip by Lady Panther Tara Thompson and a call against Eustace tied the score again at 4-all, and the teams swapped points on plays by Rogers and Princeton’s Rachel Robertson to tie the game again at 5.
After a spike by four-year Lady Bulldog starter Cassie Freeman tied the contest at 6, the Lady Panthers began to forge ahead.
Two calls against the Lady Bulldogs, a Eustace miss and a kill by Lady Panther Holly Wallace gave Princeton a 12-6 lead, but the Lady Bulldogs began to inch back.
Errors by the Lady Panthers and back-to-back kills by Freeman tied the score again at 14-all, and the Lady Bulldogs forged a 16-14 lead on two Princeton errors.
After a Eustace hit out, Princeton was called for being in the net on a kill (following a lengthy discussion between McIntyre and the officials), giving the Lady Bulldogs a 17-15 lead.
However, a couple of Eustace errors enabled Princeton to tie the score again at 17-all.
Eustace hit long, prompting Powers to call time, but another miss gave Princeton a 19-17 lead.
The Lady Bulldogs tied the score again at 19 on a Rogers block (one of a dozen for her) and a Princeton miss, and Rogers, Arin Rhodes and Lowry combined on a block to give Eustace a 20-19 lead.
Robertson’s kill tied the game again at 20, and after a Eustace miss, Freeman’s kill (one of nine) tied the score again at 21.
Tips by Roberson and Freeman again left the score tied at 22, but a kill by Wallace and a call against Eustace gave Princeton a 24-22 lead and prompted Powers to call time.
Wallace got another tip to ice the game and the match as Eustace fans watched in dismay.
The Lady Bulldogs ended their season at 29-10 with district and area championship trophies, while Princeton advanced to this weekend’s regional tournament at Texas A&M at Commerce.
Freeman led the Eustace offense with nine kills, and added eight blocks and 11 digs on defense, while Rogers had three kills, 12 blocks and one dig.
Allison Cass had five kills, five blocks and 20 digs, while Jenny McConathy notched 10 blocks and two digs.
Rhodes also finished with 12 blocks and added one kill, while Catania Grant (a move-up from the junior varsity) had three kills and eight blocks.
Defensively, the Lady Bulldogs got five digs from Chelsea Truitt, three digs from Kimberly Austin, seven digs from Jessica McConathy, four digs from Nicole McNeel and eight digs from Krysta Lowry.

Area schools welcome new girls basketball coaches
By Kerry Yancey
Monitor Staff Writer
CEDAR CREEK LAKE–All three local school districts have new girls basketball coaches, and they’re excited about their respective seasons.
Mabank opened its season Tuesday with a double-overtime loss to Kerens, while Kemp’s Lady Yellowjackets opened their season Tuesday at Palestine Westwood.
With the volleyball playoffs lasting until Tuesday, Eustace girls have yet to play a game, but expect to open the season on the road Tuesday, Nov. 18, in Grand Saline.
At Mabank, former Rockwall High School assistant coach Cody Christenberry is entering his sixth year of coaching with a number of returnees from last year’s playoff squad.
A 1998 graduate of Saltillo High School (located between Sulphur Springs and Mount Vernon), Christenberry graduated from East Texas Baptist University in Marshall with a BS in mathematics, and was an assistant coach at ETBU for one year.
Christenberry also coached at Forney before joining the Rockwall staff.
Four of the five Lady Panther starters return from last year’s squad, and “experience helps,” Christenberry said. “We’re still pretty young overall.”
Two senior starters, Chelsey Dillon and Lauren Hamilton, return, along with seniors Whitney Cathey (who saw some playing time last year) and two junior varsity players, Sarah Gilbert and Lynnsie Sims.
Christenberry has been told his system is similar to what the Lady Panthers ran last year.
“I really want to push the ball,” he said. “My intention is to press a lot, trap and play a lot of man (defense).”
Christenberry joined the staff during the summer, after former coach David Brown became the assistant principal in the last week of the basketball season.
“I like it here,” he said Wednesday. “The kids work hard and play hard.
“I like the way we hustle and get after it,” he added. “You can win a lot when you have people willing to do that.”
At Kemp, Kent Smith has become the Lady ’Jackets’ fourth head coach in as many years, coming in from Abilene.
The son of a U.S. Air Force airman, Smith graduated from Eastern Wayne High School in Goldsboro, N.C., in 1982, but has spent most of his working life in West Texas.
Smith graduated from Angelo State University in San Angelo with a BS in physics in 1987, and coached in nearby El Dorado and San Angelo before taking his first head coaching position at nearby Miles.
He later moved to the Texas Gulf Coast for a stint at Beeville, but then got out of coaching for three years while training Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officers.
Smith returned to coaching with stints in Christoval (just south of San Angelo) and Cross Plains before joining the staff at Abilene High School.
Of the 10 players on the Kemp varsity last year, eight of them are back, but the Lady ’Jackets are still very young, with only two seniors, multi-sport standout Meagan Lacy and Chelsea Mulvaney, along with five juniors and two sophomores.
“I’m looking to Meagan for experience and leadership,” Kent said. “She leads by example. I’m very impressed with her.”
Smith said he’s also impressed with the athleticism of the Lady ’Jackets.
“Having been with a team that went to regional two years in a row, athlete-wise, this team has a ton of potential,” he said. “How successful they will be will depend on how successful they want to be. They have the tools to do it.”
Having had four coaches in four years doesn’t help, Smith admitted.
“That right there makes it difficult,” he said. “You’re always having to catch up and learn a new system.”
In the girls’ first game Tuesday at Palestine Westwood, Smith said he was most impressed by the Lady ’Jackets’ outside shooting.
“We had seven 3s and six different girls shooting,” he said.
At Eustace, a former Eustace Junior High coach has returned for her first head coaching job.
Dalinda Cassell (pronounced cass-ELL), partnered with former EHS coach Kelli Moore at the junior high level two years ago, and comes back to Eustace after a stint at Ferris.
Moore stepped down to the assistant coach’s position this year in order to spend more time with her two young children.
As Dalinda Clarkson, Cassell was a standout at Canton High School, graduating in 2001.
She played at both Trinity Valley Community College and Texas A&M University at Commerce, graduating in 2005 with a degree in kinesiology.
Now in her fourth year of coaching, Cassell has three returning starters from last year’s squad, but the Lady Bulldogs are still very young overall, with five sophomores and a freshman out of 10 varsity players.
There are only two seniors, point guard Nicole McNeel and off guard/wing Jessica McConathy. Junior post Jenny McConathy is the other returning starter.
“Our main focus this year will be to be competitive and learn a new system,” Cassell said.
She pointed to the Lady Bulldogs’ work ethic as the most impressive thing she’s seen so far.
“You couldn’t ask for more there,” Cassell said. “They’re wanting this program to take that next step. They’re very coachable, and they listen.”