MANSFIELD, Texas — After rallying from a 10-point deficit in the third quarter against South Grand Prairie, Springdale Har-Ber had several chances to take the lead. The Lady Wildcats, though, missed free throws, turned the ball over and, quite simply, never capitalized when the opportunity was there.
In the end, Har-Ber fell 52-46 to South Grand Prairie on Tuesday afternoon at Summit High School in a consolation bracket quarterfinal match in the Meredith Hatch Memorial Mansfield Invitational Tournament. With the loss, Har-Ber found itself in its final game late Tuesday night against Stephenville.
“I thought we played hard, so I can’t fault the intensity,” Har-Ber coach Sandy Wright said. “But we’re at a point in the season when we need to start learning from our mistakes. We need to make better decisions and do better things when we have the ball.”
Har-Ber had 30 turnovers in the game and missed five free throws in the fourth quarter. Despite that, the Lady Wildcats stayed within striking distance.
With 6 minutes left in the game, Har-Ber pulled to within one, 39-38, on junior post Maggie Gartner’s layup. After that, the Lady Wildcats had at least three opportunities to take the lead, including on two free-throw attempts.
Har-Ber, however, never took the lead. Still, the Lady Wildcats hung in the game, pulling to within two, 44-42, when junior forward Micayla Patterson knocked down a shot with 2:02 left.
South Grand Prairie answered with a 6-2 run to seal the victory.
Patterson finished with a team-high 13 points, while senior guard Halee Castleman added 10.
“We never gave up, but the free throw thing is something that we need to be more mentally tough about,” Patterson said. “We’re a really young team and we have a lot of learning and growing to do. But I think we’ll be better, especially in conference.”
Stephenville 46, Har-Ber 41
The Lady Wildcats (7-7) fell in their final game of the tournament by five points and left Texas with a 1-3 record. The team did show improvement in their second game Tuesday night, however, as Har-Ber committed only 10 turnovers compared to 30 in the first game and won the rebounding battle.
The Lady Wildcats, though, dug themselves an early hole and trailed Stephenville by nine at halftime, 27-18. Har-Ber battled back in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to seven, 33-26, and then pulled to within three in the fourth quarter. That, however, was as close as the Lady Wildcats would come.
After the game, Wright said the team specifically needed to work on its shooting, including all of the basic fundamentals of timing and form.
Leading the way for Har-Ber was senior guard Halee Castleman, who had nine points and nine rebounds. Junior forward Micayla Patterson (eight points), sophomore post Caroline Eubanks (seven points, seven rebounds) and junior post Maggie Gartner (seven points, nine rebounds) all contributed, too.