Eads Girls Move into Semis of District 2 Tournament
February 28, 2003
It wasn’t pretty but the Lady Eagles dominated the low-seed, Plainview Hawks, in the opening round of the District 2 basketball tournament held at the Lamar Community Building on Tuesday afternoon, 59-19. A few days earlier they had controlled the Lady Hawks on their home court, 70-30, and took care of 2A Cheyenne Wells in the final home game of the season, 64-29. Eads’ first-round win puts them on a collision course with the third seed in the District tournament, Kit Carson, who handily defeated Karval on Tuesday, as well.
The senior guards for Eads, Tiffanie Gooden and Treva Richardson, had a big final weekend of the regular season leading Eads to dominating wins and using their passing and shooting skills to control both Plainview and Cheyenne Wells over the weekend. In the Plainview game on Thursday night, the home-team Hawks could not find a way to break the tremendous press put on by Eads. It was all over after the first with Eads leading 19-4 and extending their lead as the night ensued. The bench support for Eads got plenty of time on the court resulting in eight players getting in the books. Leading for Eads was Gooden with 22 points, hustler Darci Weeks added 16 more at the post, and Richardson hit for 11 counters. Senior Meghan Fickenscher got into double figures with 12 counters for her Hawks.
Saturday night would be the last time seniors Gooden, Richardson, and Riki Berry would play on their home court and they went out in typical style destroying Cheyenne Wells, 64-29, and dominating virtually every aspect of the game. Gooden was unconscious early leading the Eagles to a 27-0 lead before the Tigers found the scoreboard with two free throws midway through the second period. The scoring production in this game came from the outside at the experienced guard spots with Gooden hitting for 25 and Richardson adding 15 more including two long-balls. Watts would control the boards pulling down 11.
In the first round of the District 2 tournament Eads would come out flat against the Hawks underestimating their will to compete and resulting a mere two-point lead after one, 10-8. All eight points would come from sophomore Kami Stum who would end up leading the Hawks in their final game of the season with 12 points. The second period would see Eads get it in gear a little better scoring 26 to Plainview’s two points. The scoring came from steals and assists from Richardson and Gooden to their post players Weeks and Jessica Watts. Watts would have a huge first half hitting for 16 of her 18 points in the contest. Weeks would end up with 12 points, while Richardson added 11 more including three long-balls.
Eads now enters the semifinal round on Thursday with game time at 3 PM at the Community Building in Eads. They will be playing the Lady Wildcats from Kit Carson for the right to advance to the Regional tournament in La Junta next weekend.