Wylie struggles offensively against Lubbock Monterey in girls basketball district opener

While the Wylie girls basketball team did most of what it wanted to defensively, the offense struggled in Friday's 58-40 loss to Lubbock Monterey to open District 4-5A play.

The Lady Bulldogs double-teamed freshman phenom Aaliyah Chavez and put a body - mostly Indiah Maroney - on big junior Kelly Mora inside and held Monterey to under its season average of 67.7 points per game.

But it wasn't enough.

"We know (Chavez) is going to get her points, we just didn't want her to go off for 40," Wylie coach Amy Powell said. "Really, we did a pretty good job on her the first three quarters. She had 12 points through three quarters and then, I think, had nine in the fourth quarter.

"Some of those points where we had to get up and press a little bit and lost track of her. But she's a really good player. Then (Mora) who came off an ACL from last year, who was out all of last year, the two of them together are really solid."

Chavez finished with 21 points and Mora had 18 for the 19th-ranked Lady Plainsmen (20-6 overall, 1-0 district) with four other players getting on the scoresheet.

Wylie (10-12, 0-1) was led by Caroline Steadman, who also had 21 points, but didn't get much help outside of Kaylan Adams' 11-point effort.

"We knew we had to stop them," Powell said. "I thought we did a pretty good job of that, limiting them and making someone else shoot the ball. Problem tonight, for us, was finding ways to score points in the offensive end. We've got to be a little more efficient in our offense."

Steadman scored six of the seven first-quarter points for Wylie and had 12 of its 17 points in the first half. In the third quarter, the Lady Bulldogs were held to six points, all coming from Adams.

Though the Lady Bulldogs were able to get the ball inside, they struggled to finish at the basket.

"If you told me we'd keep them in the 50s, we knew we'd have a chance," Powell said. "We just really struggled in the second half to find a way to score points and missed some easy baskets. … We had opportunities, we had lots of wide open looks and lots of shots in the paint, we just didn't finish them. Sometimes you have nights like that, but I was proud of the way our kids fought."

With No. 8 Lubbock-Cooper the favorite to repeat as district champion and the resurgence of Monterey and Lubbock High — led by freshmen — District 4-5A is as competitive as it has been.

That makes Tuesday's game at Coronado, which fell Friday to Lubbock HIgh 49-42, much more important for the Lady Bulldogs.

"Tuesday's trip to Coronado is very important, we just talked about that in the locker room," Powell said. "We've got to learn from tonight, we've got to get past it. We really don't have much time to think about it, because you're already preparing for Coronado.

"Coronado's a super tough place to play, the gym is a really tough environment. Everybody in this district is going to be tough, it's going to be a grind night in and night out. The ability to steal some wins on the road is going to be huge down the stretch."

Jordan Hofeditz covers Abilene high schools and colleges, Big Country schools and other local sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jhofeditz. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.

DISTRICT 4-5A GIRLS

No. 19 Lubbock Monterey 58, Wylie 40

Monterey 12 12 15 19—58

Wylie 7 10 6 17—40

LUBBOCK MONTEREY (20-6, 1-0) — Charli Garland 2 2-3 6, Aaliyah Chavez 10 1-1 21, McKenzie Begaye 1 0-0 2, Madalynn Campos 1 0-0 2, Jordan Aguirre 0 0-0 0, Katie Scholl 0 0-0 0, Tatiana Trotter 4 0-0 8, Kelly Mora 8 2-7 18. Totals 26 5-11 58.

WYLIE (10-12, 0-1) — Camri Travis 0 0-0 0, Caroline Steadman 7 2-2 21, Mycala Reed 0 1-2 1, Alexis LaCroix 0 0-0 0, Kaylan Adams 4 3-4 11, Halli Russell 0 0-0 0, Kenyah Maroney 0 0-0 0, Indiah Maroney 1 2-2 4, Aliyah Jowers 1 0-0 3, Nylah Alvarado 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 8-10 40.

3-Point Goals — Monterey 1 (Garland 1), Wylie 6 (Steadman 5, Jowers 1). Total Fouls — Monterey 11, Wylie 11. Fouled Out — None. Technical Fouls — None.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Wylie girls basketball struggles against No. 19 Lubbock Monterey