Instead, the Lady Tigers simply lost on Tuesday night.
Belton came out with a thud and didn’t elevate much beyond that as Killeen Shoemaker kept its playoff hopes alive with a 52-30 rout at Tiger Gym in a District 13-5A girls basketball game.
Belton tumbled to 11-18 overall and 2-7 in district play. The Lady Grey Wolves (18-15) moved to 4-5 in the league to tie Temple - which lost at College Station A&M Consolidated - for 13-5A’s fourth and final playoff spot.
“We just played uninspired basketball,” Belton coach Randy Bell said. “We had just played two good games against A&M Consolidated and Temple, really exciting games. This time we played pretty flat.”
The flatness wasn’t a gradual process. Rather, it was immediate.
Belton shot just 1-of-13 from the field in the first quarter. A strong, driving layup by Angie Harris at the 1:50 mark was all that came between being whitewashed through the first eight minutes as Shoemaker led 10-2.
“You’d think if you get 13 shots you’re going to have a chance,” said Bell, whose team went on to shoot 20 percent from the field.
Even with that sluggish start, the Lady Tigers crept within three at 10-7 to start the second quarter. Free throws by Maeli Anderson and Bailey Heitmiller sandwiched around a Gabby Guzman bucket put the Lady Tigers back in position to take the lead.
However, the Lady Wolves scored on five of their next six possessions, with Danika Dale and Simone Powell getting a pair of buckets apiece as part of an 11-2 run. That helped Shoemaker to a 22-11 halftime advantage.
Belton came out firing in the second half, with Heitmiller canning a 3-pointer and Guzman getting a putback on the Lady Tigers’ first two possessions to cut the lead to six.
“We just kept thinking, ‘Here comes the run, here comes the run,’” Bell said. “I tell the girls it’s a game of runs. Then we don’t get a defensive stop. Their runs were longer than ours.”
Shoemaker outscored the Lady Tigers 19-3 the rest of the third quarter. Dale, one of the district’s top talents, came alive for nine of her game-high 17 points in the third. Adrienne Davis and Powell combined for the other 10. A turnaround shot by Tilatha Akins was the only other Lady Tiger field goal in the third, some six minutes after the previous one.
Aynsley Young and Anderson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pace the Lady Tigers’ 11-point fourth quarter.
Powell added 14 points for the Lady Wolves.
Nine Lady Tigers got in the scoring column, led by Anderson’s five points.
“We’re going to keep working hard and see how many wins we can get before district (ends),” said Bell, whose team has three games remaining and will travel to Killeen Ellison on Friday. “We’ll keep playing and see where we go from here.”
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