Sports and Outdoors

 Lake Info

Normal Lake Level is 322.00 feet above Mean Sea Level.
Current level for Cedar Creek Lake is: 322.02 Water Temperature:
52  degrees - top
51 degrees - bottom

Lady Bulldogs win runner-up trophy at Fruitvale tourney
Monitor Staff Reports
FRUITVALE–Eustace’s Lady Bulldogs took home their first tournament runner-up trophy last weekend, as they went 2-1 at the Fruitvale Lady Bobcat Invitational tournament.
The Lady Bulldogs were scheduled to host Cross Roads Tuesday night before taking a Christmas break.
Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 28-29, the Lady Bulldogs are scheduled to play in a tournament at Brownsboro before taking another break.
Friday, Jan. 8, the Lady Bulldogs are scheduled to open District 14-3A play at home against the Mineola Lady Yellowjackets.
In their tournament opener at Fruitvale last weekend, the Lady Bulldogs got a rare easy victory, as they crushed the A Academy 46-12.
The Lady Bulldogs were never threatened, opening a 19-0 lead in the first quarter and finishing with a 15-4 run in the fourth quarter.
“My bench got a lot of playing time today, and I feel they got better,” second-year head coach DaLinda Cassell said later. “This is going to help our team later when we get into district play.
“My starting five did a good job in the first quarter of executing the offense and coming out ready to play defensively,” she added.
Ashlie Phillips led the Lady Bulldogs with 15 points, with Allie Cass adding 13. Both Vanessa Lopez and Aurora Beasley scored six points each, and Jenny McConathy, Meagan Renteria and Alyssa Walker all scored two points each.
In the second round, the Lady Bulldogs knocked off the hosting Lady Bobcats 30-24, outscoring Fruitvale 11-6 in the fourth quarter to secure the narrow victory.
“We didn’t do a very good job of being patient on offense,” Cassell said. “The fourth quarter, we ran our offense better, and that’s what won us the game.”
Phillips again led the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points, as Cass had eight, McConathy and Harmony Allen scored two points each and Lopez added a free throw.
In the championship game, the Cumby Lady Trojans outscored the Lady Bulldogs 23-12 in the middle two quarters to forge a 49-29 victory.
“We did not have a good second quarter (giving up an 8-2 run),” Cassell said. “We had shots in the paint and they would not go in for us.
“We placed second in the tournament, which is a first for Eustace girls basketball,” she added. “We know the program is going in the right direction, and we know we still have work to do to be where we want to be by district.”
Cass led the Lady Bulldogs with 12 points, as McConathy had six, Allen five, Phillips four and Lopez two points.

Mustangs throw Panthers, 69-66
Monitor Staff Reports
MABANK–In their final home game before starting a new year and District 15-4A basketball play, the Mabank Panthers fell behind early and narrowly lost to the Richardson Pearce Mustangs Friday, 69-66.
The Panthers were scheduled to visit Wills Point for a matchup against the defending District 14-3A champions Tuesday night.
Starting Thursday (today) the Panthers will travel to Liberty City for the annual Sabine tournament before taking a Christmas break.
Monday through Wednesday, Dec. 28-30, the Panther will travel to the Tyler Junior College campus for the annual Wagstaff Holiday Classic, and after a short break, will open district play on the road against Terrell Tuesday, Jan. 5.
In front of a small crowd Friday night, the Panthers found themselves trailing early against the taller and quicker Mustangs of District 10-4A, who managed to control the offensive boards enough to offset icy shooting early in the contest.
That inside muscle led to four first-quarter baskets for Kenny Slocum, along with a couple of buckets by Taylor Pitts and a 3-point basket by Cole Holland.
In contrast, the Panthers got most of their points from senior wing Griffin Marshall, who scored 10 of Mabank’s 12 points in the period, including two 3-point buckets.
Down by six points after the first quarter, the Panthers pulled within three points by halftime, as Trey Phillips and Tyler Fisher both scored three points to go along with five points from Marshall.
The Mustangs outscored Mabank 19-15 in the third quarter behind seven points from Slocum and five (including a trey) from Darius Revels, despite a trey from Jacob Woodard and four points from both Marshall and Fisher.
In the fourth quarter, the Panthers managed to cut the Mustang lead to three points behind Marshall, who scored eight of his game-high 27 points in the period, while Fisher added seven points (including 4-of-5 from the charity stripe).
Along with Marshall’s 27 points, the Panthers got 14 from Fisher, eight from Woodard, six from Phillips, five from James Burkhalter, four from Jordan Allen and two from Unterrious Toliver.
Slocum finished with 23 points, while Revels had 11 and Holland 10.

KHS girls win Venus tourney
Ritterbach named tournament MVP
Monitor Staff Reports
VENUS–With three dominating victories, the Kemp Lady Yellowjackets captured the Venus tournament championship last weekend.
Now 12-1 on the season, the Lady Yellowjackets were scheduled to host Italy Tuesday night.
Saturday, Dec. 19, the Lady ’Jackets travel to Lindale to face the 4A Lady Eagles, with a freshman contest scheduled to open a three-game slate at noon.
Monday, Dec. 21, the Lady ’Jackets will host Miller Grove for a 2 p.m. varsity contest before taking a Christmas break.
Monday through Wednesday, Dec. 28-30, the Kemp girls will play in the Gatesville tournament, and will visit Cross Roads Saturday, Jan. 2, with a 1 p.m. junior varsity contest opening a two-game slate.
Tuesday, Jan. 5, the Lady ’Jackets will travel to Quinlan for their final non-district contest. Kemp opens District 14-3A play at home Friday, Jan. 8, against the Van Lady Vandals.
At Venus last weekend, the Lady ’Jackets had what amounted to an extended practice in the tournament opener, playing an unnamed junior varsity squad and cruising to a 56-12 win.
It was no contest, as Kemp opened a 25-4 lead and blanked their opponents in the second (10-0) and fourth (9-0) quarters.
Michelle Ritterbach led the Lady ’Jackets with 14 points, as both Shelbie Wright and Kandace Rose added 10 points each.
Friday afternoon, the Lady ’Jackets had a rematch with Palmer’s Lady Bulldogs, their foes in the season opener, and the result was much the same, as Kemp rolled to a 53-31 victory.
The Lady ’Jackets opened a 16-8 lead in the first quarter and put the contest away in the third quarter win an 11-2 run.
“Michelle was on fire the entire game, hitting 9-of-11 twos and 2-of-4 threes on the way to a 24-point game,” second-year head coach Kent Smith said later.
“She also led all rebounders with nine – one short of a double-double – and had five steals,” Smith added. “Brittany Simmons had 12 points, plus seven assists, four steals and six rebounds.
“We also found out Friday that Brittany is the state’s leading defender for taking charges among all schools and all classifications,” Smith pointed out. “As of Friday morning, she had 11 charges in 10 games, but we didn’t get any opportunities to add to her total this weekend.”
In addition to Ritterbach’s 24 and Simmons’ 12 points, the Lady ’Jackets got five points from Briana Powell, four each from Shannon Shipp and Rose, and two points each from Brandy Simmons and Wright.
Kemp faced Temple Christian’s Lady Cardinals out of Fort Worth in the tournament championship game, and again, the Lady ’Jackets took charge early and steadily pulled away to a 50-38 victory.
“Our perimeter game was again on fire, as this time Amanda Lawrence led all scorers with 17 points, plus five assists and two steals,” Smith reported.
Powell, Ritterbach (two) and Brittany Simmons (two) all had 3-point baskets.
Ritterbach finished with 15 points, plus six rebounds and three steals, while Brittany Simmons finished with eight points, five rebounds and five assists.
Rose added 10 rebounds (six offensive) and Shipp had six rebounds.
“It was frustrating for Temple Christian, in that whenever they tried to shut down Michelle, someone else stepped up and either hit a three or drove in for a layup,” Smith said.
Ritterbach was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and Lawrence was named to the all-tournament team.