Lady Jackets sprint past Lady Panthers for district win

Posted 1/15/20

Lady Jacket star Sabria Dean tallied 31 points in a lopsided 70-22 win over the visiting Alba-Golden Lady Panthers last Tuesday, exceeding 2,000 career points for the Lady Jackets. The achievement also placed her at number 50 of the all-time Texas high school girls basketball scorers. 

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Lady Jackets sprint past Lady Panthers for district win

Posted

Lady Jacket star Sabria Dean tallied 31 points in a lopsided 70-22 win over the visiting Alba-Golden Lady Panthers last Tuesday, exceeding 2,000 career points for the Lady Jackets. The achievement also placed her at number 50 of the all-time Texas high school girls basketball scorers. 

Dean humbly praised her teammates after post-game recognition by the Mineola coaching staff. “My teammates are everything, I can do nothing without my team,” she commented. Dean admitted all the workouts and time at the gym were paying off now. She recently accepted a full scholarship to play basketball for Lamar University.  

The win against Alba-Golden was prototypical Lady Jackets basketball. Score and pressure, score and double the pressure. A torrent of scoring was fed by the relentless Mineola full court press.

The Lady Jackets press creates a domino effect with opposing teams. One turnover and score increases the pressure at the next inbound, and should the press be effective a second time, opposing teams begin to question the techniques they have practiced to break the press. Once that confidence is shaken, the press becomes a feeding frenzy.

It wasn’t all breakaway scoring for the Lady Jackets. Dean, Meghan Brewington and Cyndi Butler combined for seven 3-pointers on the night. 

Down by 14 points after one quarter of play, the Lady Panthers were victimized by the Mineola press in the second quarter. Three successive turnovers at the quarter’s onset unleashed a jet stream of scoring. The game was out of hand by half time. Dean sat in the fourth quarter. Tellingly, Alba-Golden outscored Mineola 6-1 in the final period.    

For the Lady Panthers, it was a sobering loss; however, there are always bright spots. The spirited play of Autumn Whitten was particularly notable, as she put in hard, quality minutes of play.