Midland sweeps Kaplan

MIDLAND – It was a good night for Devin Gautreaux.
To the tune of 26 points, including six three-pointers, Gautreaux led the Midland Rebels to its 50-32 victory over the Kaplan Pirates Friday night.
“He missed two shots all night, I believe,” said Rebels coach William Stanley. “When he’s hot, we tell our guys to keep feeding him the ball. And, really with any of our players, if they have a hot hand, that’s who we want to go to, and tonight, it was him.”
With a 16-5 margin after the first quarter and 34-11 halftime score, Midland was in firm control of the game early, but the Rebels seemed to take the foot off the pedal in the third quarter (which Kaplan outscored Midland 12-7 in) and Midland had to work to keep its wide margin in the fourth quarter.
“We stopped guarding in the third quarter,” said Stanley.
“We always preach, ‘Don’t have to beat a team twice.’ We had to beat them twice tonight, because we slacked off in the third quarter.”
Still, the first half from the Rebels, who improved to 8-4 on the season, was something to behold.
In the first quarter it was an offensive show from Midland with Gautreaux scoring 14 of the quarter’s 16 points. The Rebels also hauled in several key rebounds that limited the taller Kaplan Pirates (who fell to 0-2) to few second-chance points. That coupled with shooting issues of their own saw the Pirates only muster 5 points in the frame.
The second quarter saw the teams trade plenty of fouls, free throws and shots, but, again, Midland was too much for Kaplan. And, again, the Rebels would outscore their 3A foe, this time, 18-6.
The game quieted greatly – from the crowd in the stands to the players on the floor – it seemed in the third quarter with, as Stanley pointed out, the Rebels seemed content to put the game in cruise control. Coupled with Kaplan finally finding some offensive rhythm and the third quarter ended with the Pirates narrowing the Rebels’ lead from 23 points at the half to 18. And, in the fourth quarter the Rebels and Pirates were evenly matched with a 9-9 frame. Though, for most of the fourth, Midland relied on bleeding out the clock until they found their shot.
Randy Primeaux added seven points to the night and Traven Guidry and Taatum Rubin added six points each.
The Rebels defense helped keep Kaplan players out of double digits on the night with Hunter Stelly’s nine points being the highest score for the Pirates.
Lady Rebels pick
up seventh victory
MIDLAND – A night of big rebounds and a hot start helped propel the Midland Lady Rebels Friday night to its seventh win of the season and dropped Kaplan to 2-3. The Lady Rebels are now 7-5.
Homecoming night started off with  a bang in Midland with the Lady Rebels outscoring the Lady Pirates 13-5 in the first quarter thanks in large part to its 9-0 opening run and limiting Kaplan to very few offensive rebounds.
And, while the perimeter game seemed to not be initially on for Midland, the Lady Rebels found ways to get the ball in the net early and often in the first frame.
But, the game would narrow in the second as Midland would only outscore Kaplan 11-8 in the second quarter, thanks in no small part to the Lady Rebels hearing the whistle multiple times. In fact, the Lady Rebels would finish the first half with 10 fouls to the Lady Pirates’ six. And, it was those extra shot attempts that gave Kaplan more chances to narrow the gap.
Kaplan coupled that second quarter effort with an immediate hot open in the third quarter, drawing at one time within eight points, but a late streak helped the Lady Rebels evade the Lady Pirates’ advances and brought the margin back up to 17 points.
Brooke Comeaux’s 16 points and Macy Hoffpauir and Bethany LeJeune’s 11 points each were the scorebook stars of the night for the Lady Rebels. Comeaux (nine points in the first half, seven in the second) helped pace Midland all game while the bulk of Hoffpauir and LeJeune’s points came in the second half – seven points each, to be exact. Perfect timing too, as the Lady Pirates seemed to continue to linger deep into the third quarter.
Only one Lady Pirate was able to cross the double digit threshold Friday night in Midland, Kailey LeJeune scored 12 points.