Coach Darin Swift took his Groesbeck Lady Goats team to the Lady Raider Holiday Classic Tournament at Sunnyvale High School near Mesquite last Thursday through Saturday . The Lady Goats split their first two games on Thursday. They won handily over Southeast Oklahoma City Friday 71-16 On Saturday morning, they beat Sunnnyvale JV 58-22 to win fifth place out of 16 teams.

On Friday December 21 against China Spring, the Lady Goats had only six minutes to warm up because of a delay in getting to the gym due to an accident on the road slowing down traffic. China Spring led 18-4, 31-14 and 40-23 through the first three quarters. Groesbeck outscored the Lady Cougars 7-3 in the fourth quarter losing 40-26. Mandy Adams had a double double scoring 14 points and snaring 12 rebounds. Shataria Asberry scored eight points and got three rebounds. Samantha Sloan scored six points and had four rebounds. Juanita Del Toro hit two free throws to round out the Lady Goat scoring. Skye Foy had six rebounds. Adams and Asberry blocked two and one Lady Cougar shots respectively. The team had 18 turnovers in the game.

At Sunnyvale, the Lady Goats scraped by Scurry-Rosser 60-55 to open the tournament. The scoring was quite close throughout the game. It was 16-16 after one, 30-29 Scurry Rosser at the half and 42- 41 Groesbeck after three quarter.s. What helped Groesbeck seal the win was its free throw shooting in the fourth quarter. Bailey Johnson, Sloan and Foy all went two for two at the free throw line to put the game away. Mikayla Swift returned and made three treys for nine points. Adams had a big game with 25 points, 12 of them in the first quarter. Foy had 13 points. Johnson scored four points. Asberry contributed seven points. Sloan had the two points on her fourth quarter free throws.

It didn’t go as well for Groesbeck in the Thursday afternoon game. AAA Academy, a privateschool that fields an elite basketball program trounced the Lady Goats 59-31. In the second and fourth quarters, the Lady Goats matched AAA with 11 and nine points scoring respectively. AAA took the first quarter 21-5 and the third by a 16-6 margin. Asberry led Groesbeck with 16 points. Foy had seven while Adams contributed six points and 17 rebounds. Swift scored two and Sloan one, all free throws to end the Groesbeck scoring. One highlight of the tournament has been the free throw shooting by Groesbeck in its first two games. They made 13 of 21 against Scurry Rosser and 11 of 13 against AAA.

Coach Swift reported the offi ciating as being some of the worst he has ever experienced in the AAA game. The AAA players were tackling, hitting and elbowing Groesbeck players with very few fouls being called in their very dirty style of play. Fans in the stands could hear the AAA coach telling his players to go hit the girl (Swift) with the brace in the leg. An indication of how badly the officials were calling the game was in the number of free throw shots Groesbeck attempted, only 13 in the game.

On Friday, Groesbeck destroyed Southeast Oklahoma City 71-16. Only the first quarter was decent for the Okies as they trailed Groesbeck by only 14-7. The Lady Goats crushed them 21-4 in the second quarter for a 35-11 halftime lead. They allowed OKC- SE just two points in the third quarter and three in the fourth. They made seven steals, four blocks and grabbed 25 defensive rebounds in playing their best defense of the year.

On offense, three Lady Goats were in double figures. Adams led with 20 points going seven for seven from the field and six for nine from the charity stripe. She had 18 rebounds and one block. Foy followed with 17 points making four of 10 from the paint and three of five from behind the arc. She went zero for two at the free throw line. She had four rebounds , two steals and three assists. Sloan finished with 13 points going six for nine from the field and one for one shooting free throws. She had six rebounds. Asberry scored eight points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots. Swift also made eight points on two of three trey shooting and two for two free throws. She made two assists. Del Toro hit one of four free throws and had one steal and two assists. Johnson was four of four at the charity stripe and pulled in five rebounds.

In the fifth place game, the Lady Goats had little trouble beating the Sunnyvale JV Lady Raiders. They led by the quarters, 15-4, 28-10, 41-16 and 58-22. Adams scored 25 points to beat the Lady Raiders with just her output. Foy put in 13. McCullen added two points. Swift put in two treys for six points. Sloan also had six points. Johnson scored two points. Asberry contributed four points to the win. Coach Darin Swift commented, “Overall, the girls played very well especially coming off a five day break. Taking fifth place out of 16 teams is very good for us.”