Johnson City defeated Long Creek 54-39 and Center Point 60-27 last week as the girls basketball team’s district schedule moves into the second half.
The game against Long Creek, hosted by Johnson City last Tuesday, served as an opportunity for the Lady Eagles to get back on track after the loss to Goldthwaite the week prior. The win, while not counted in Johnson City’s district record, is still important for the team as it navigates a tight district race in the second half.
“Even though it’s not a district game, we go into it like it’s a district game,” senior Brooke Hobbs said. “We play our hardest and work on the things that will matter in our district games.”
The game started as another dominant performance for Johnson City with a 10-2 lead after the first quarter, but Long Creek cut into the lead with a 19-point second quarter as the Lady Eagles scored 15 points. The game continued to tighten until head coach Chris Schlicke called a timeout midway through the third quarter with the two teams just three points apart.
“I’ve been preaching all year, we never know when adversity is going to hit,” Schlicke said. “We have to be ready for when adversity hits, and I thought tonight, some adversity hit us.”
Johnson City outscored Long Creek 21-14 in the third quarter and 8-4 in the fourth quarter, as the home team pulled away for a 5339 win.
The Lady Eagles battled adversity throughout the win on Tuesday night. Senior Jackie Earley was unavailable for the game, and the team as a whole struggled at the free throw line by hitting just 8 of 27 shots there.
Schlicke was happy to see his team win despite the adversities it faced.
“That’s a testament to our team,” Schlicke said. “We fought hard and we found a way to win a game that maybe things weren’t going our way.”
When Johnson City is having a tough time getting on the scoreboard, one avenue for victory still exists through its defense. Defensive specialists, such as seniors JayCee Debusk and Riley Birck, and their abilities to keep the other team off the board and get the ball back into the Lady Eagles’ hands are important components to the team’s success in tough games.
“They bring energy to the team because we know that we can get a defensive stop when we need it,” Schlicke said. “Whenever we need to get a stop, we need to stop somebody, we do it.”
Offensively against Long Creek, Hobbs led the Lady Eagles with 14 points, with all but two in the second half. Sophomore Chloe Clark followed with 11 points, all in the first half, while senior Maddy Hacker picked up nine points as well, made up of three two-point shots and a three-pointer. Every Lady Eagle who played against Long Creek scored at least one point.
On Friday, Johnson City traveled to Center Point (0-7 in district) and won 60-27. The game started the second half of district play with a win and completed Johnson City’s season series sweep of Center Point. In the two games, the Lady Eagles outscored their opponent by a combined score of 137-61 in the two games. The win moved Johnson City back into third place in the district standings, half a game behind Goldthwaite for second and one-and-a-half games behind San Saba for first place.
After the home game after press time against San Saba on Tuesday Johnson City has three straight road games scheduled in Junction, Harper, and Mason. The Lady Eagles return home to hos Goldthwaite for the final game of district play on Feb. 4
