Missed foul shots cost Odessa

ODESSA - Free throws are free points if you make them. But the Lady Tigers made only 12 of 29 from the charity stripe, which came back to haunt them in a 52-46 loss to NE1B rival Wellpinit Friday, Jan. 5.

Early in the game, the Tigers looked to senior Hayden Schuh, and she didn't disappoint. She drove the lane and crashed the boards to pick up easy points from under the basket.

Schuh scored 10 first quarter points, but Wellpinit's Raya Hill's and Laria Kieffer's hot outside shooting put the Redskins up 16-15 at the break.

Wellpinit did not cool off in the second quarter. Hill hit two 3-point shots, giving her 15 points in the half. Melloney Deife scored five points in the quarter to keep her team within striking distance.

Schuh ended the half with 14 points.

Heading into the locker room, Wellpinit led 33-29.

After the break, Wellpinit slapped on a full-court press that gave Odessa fits. With Schuh on the bench with foul trouble, the Tigers dribbled into traps and forced passes that the Redskins stole and converted into easy baskets.

Wellpinit held a comfortable 43-34 lead with one quarter left.

The Tigers played with composure in the last frame. They clawed back into the game by playing good defense, holding Wellpinit to two field goals.

With 2:55 left in the game, Schuh hit a big bucket to bring Odessa within two points, 45-43.

After Wellpinit scored two baskets to increase its lead to six, Odessa's Deife hit a long range three to make the score 49-46. Schuh fouled out seconds later, and the Redskins closed the game out with a free throw to make the final score 52-46.

Odessa missed six free throws in the last minutes of the game.

Schuh and Hill scored 22 points for their respective teams. Schuh also pulled down 13 rebounds.

Deife, and Mackenzie Lutz ended the game with nine points for the Tigers.

"Overall, we played pretty good," Hayden Schuh said. "We lost five seniors after last year so we haven't played together a lot. We could have played better on defense and definitely need to work on our free throw shooting. We need to concentrate more. The good thing is that we made a run at them and didn't give up."

Odessa head coach Travis Schuh lamented his team's poor shooting from the foul line.

"We missed 17 free throws and lost the game by six points," he said.

Coach Schuh said that his team let up a little when Hayden Schuh left the game with foul trouble.

"I'd like to see other girls step and be more aggressive," he said. "We need them to take it to the basket to make something happen instead of standing around."

The loss dropped Odessa to 5-4 on the season. Wellpinit improved its record to 6-4.

Odessa rebounded from the loss with a 58-54 loss at Valley Christian Saturday, Jan. 6.

The Tigers are at ACH at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12.