Anacoco slips past Lady Rebels

ANACOCO – The Midland Lady Rebels had their chances Tuesday in their Class B regional playoff showdown with Anacoco.
In fact, they had numerous chances.
Unfortunately, the Lady Rebels shot just 27 percent from the floor and mustered just four points in the fourth quarter, that leading to a 37-28 loss.
“We didn’t lose because we weren’t good enough to win; we lost because we just couldn’t put the ball in the hole tonight,” said MHS coach Amanda Fontenot, whose squad finished the season with a record of 18-14.
“Of all the night’s to be off shooting, tonight wasn’t the night to do it.”
Fontenot thought the Lady Rebels did a sufficient job defensively, especially on Anacoco’s two guards.
“But the reason why we lost was on our end, we didn’t put the ball in the hole,” she reiterated. “We shot 20 something percent, that’s not going to get it.”
What really hurt the Lady Rebels was the fact that the bulk of their missed shots were at close range. They missed 24 shots in the paint with nearly half of them being on layup attempts.
“I don’t know if we were nervous or distracted or it was just jitters, but we just couldn’t seem to settle down and we missed a lot of easy shots,” said Fontenot. “We had plenty of opportunities and plenty of chances to win without it being a buzzer beater.”
The Lady Rebels got a boost from Hannah Credeur in the first quarter when she buried a long-range 3-pointer to start the contest. Anacoco rallied back and took a 4-3 lead midway through the frame before Brooke Comeaux drilled another 3-pointer.
Anacoco’s Kayli O’Tools answered with a 3-pointer of her own and the Lady Indians were able to take an 11-8 advantage.
Neither team was able to mount much offense in the second frame.
The Lady Indians hit the first shot of the quarter to extend the lead to 13-8 before Bethany LeJeune’s jumper in the lane got the Lady Rebels back within three. The two squads traded baskets after that before going cold from the floor over the final two minutes.
The Lady Rebels got another 3-pointer from Comeaux in the third quarter and had their highest offensive production of the night in the frame with 12 points.
The Lady Indians, however, also had their best quarter of the night in the third frame.
Anacoco’s Shelby McElveen knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Whitney Goins added another as the Lady Indians scored 15 points to take a 30-24 cushion into the final stanza.
“We were finally able to put something together there in the third quarter,” said Fontenot. “But we couldn’t stop them. Those two guards (McElveen and Goins) are very good and they stepped up and hit some shots that kind of killed our momentum.”
The Lady Rebels cut the lead to five (33-28) with just under three minutes to go in the game and they had a chance to close the gap even more. But they missed two shots in the paint following an Anacoco turnover and McElveen and Allie Haymon then iced the game with four straight free throws down the stretch.
“We just missed some easy buckets tonight. But it wasn’t because of lack of effort,” said Fontenot. “We closed it back to five, but when it came down to it, we just didn’t finish the easy and necessary shots.”
Comeaux paced the Lady Rebels with eight points while Credeur and Macy Hoffpauir each scored seven. LeJeune added four points and Nicole Kraut had two.
McElveen led the Lady Indians with 16 points and Goins had seven.