After three quarters, the Odessa High girls basketball team was within striking distance.
The Lady Bronchos trailed 50-44 and had outscored Amarillo Palo Duro 34-28 in the previous 14 minutes.
However, over the final 8 minutes, the Lady Dons limited the Lady Bronchos to three points en route to a 65-47 victory in a nondistrict game on Friday at the OHS Fieldhouse.
“We didn’t put a complete game together,” Odessa High head coach Olivia Pyburn said. “We played two quarters and we were down by four at halftime. We were down by six after three quarters. We were hanging with them quarter-wise, but in the fourth quarter we lost our composure and just handed it to them.”
Amarillo Palo Duro head coach AJ Johnson credits the team’s offseason workout program to compete from the opening tipoff to the final buzzer.
The Lady Dons outscored Odessa High (3-7) in the first, third and fourth quarters. Angel Reese posted a game-high 27 points, while Katana Smith added 18, which included four 3-pointers, for Amarillo Palo Duro. Reese and Smith scored 24 of the team’s 36 points in the second half.
“We have a strength and conditioning program and we like to think it works for us,” Johnson said. “(Odessa High’s) players are kind of young, so they haven’t been through a strength and conditioning program like the majority of our kids. We felt we kind of wore them down later in the game.”
After using a full-court press in the first quarter, the Lady Dons held a 18-10 lead to end the opening 8 minutes. The Lady Bronchos broke the press in the second quarter and Melina Escogido provided a lift. The freshman supplied 10 of her 14 points in the second quarter as Odessa High shrunk its deficit to as little as three, 28-25.
During the third quarter, Amarillo Palo Duro recaptured a double-digit advantage, 48-38, after a layup from Marium Mou.
The Lady Bronchos responded with a 6-2 run to close out the final 35 seconds of the third quarter. Italya Saenz hit a 3-pointer, while Skylar Herrera, who finished with 14 points for the Odessa High, sank 3 of 5 free throws.
“It’s good that we played hard, but we need to keep it throughout the whole game,” Escogido said. “It was good that we did keep it, but we lost it.”
In the fourth quarter, Herrera sank a jump at the 6:47 mark and that was the only field goal the Lady Bronchos would see for the remainder of the contest.
Odessa High continues its season hosting Abilene at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the OHS Fieldhouse.
“This is a positive loss and that sounds crazy to say, but I tell the (team) all the time, ‘You either win or you learn, but you never lose,’” Pyburn said. “We are learning and trying to put the pieces together. We are going to get it. I have faith them.”
