Turnovers piled up for the young La Monte girls basketball team Wednesday, and the Lady Vikings managed one second-half charge before the No. 2 seed Kingsville ran away with a 54-33 victory in the Mid-State Basketball Tournament.
Coming off a bye in the tournament, Casey Stout and Cassidy Coleman led Kingsville with 19 and 18 points, respectively, and the Lady Tigers out-scored La Monte 20-4 in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Vikings trailed the entire game, but made a 12-3 run in the second half to pull within three points. Rocio Rodriguez, who scored six straight in the La Monte run, finished with a team-high 10 points.
After a Kingsville timeout, the Lady Tigers scored with a 3-pointer on the inbounds and led 34-29 entering the fourth quarter.
Kingsville turned up its defensive heat with a full-court press and quickly built an 11-point lead capped by a Coleman layup. La Monte’s inbound pass was thrown off Maleiah Parker’s shoe on the next possession, and Lady Vikings head coach Donnie Mayes called timeout.
He said ball handling was an area La Monte most needed to improve upon.
“That was our single-biggest Achilles’ heel tonight,” Mayes said. “We dribbled in too much traffic, and when we did that, we got into a panic mode.”
Parker, one of six Lady Viking sophomores, scored the team’s first five points. She scored once more in the fourth and finished with seven points. Mayes said his underclassmen are still learning the La Monte system, with the help of former player and current assistant coach Kristen Morton.
“They’re trying everything that we’re putting in front of them,” Mayes said. “I have the extra benefit of an assistant coach that’s run the system. We’re just trying to get those underclassmen – Maleiah (Parker), Jennifer (Garcia), Lindey (Oehrke) – all of them gelling with everybody and starting to trust each other.”
The Lady Vikings (3-1) host Chilhowee 7:30 p.m. Thursday in La Monte in the consolation bracket.
