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Bittersweet Symphony: West tops former assistant Vaughn, Lady Broncos
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
MCKINNEY -- Both Plano West girls basketball head coach Don Patterson and McKinney Boyd head coach Rochelle Vaughn used the same term regarding Friday's District 10-5A opener: bittersweet.
That was certainly the case in a sentimental affair that saw Vaughn, a former assistant and player for the Lady Wolves, coach against her alma mater for the first time.
In Friday's case, it was the teacher who gained the upper hand over his pupil in a 69-45 West victory.
"For me, it's bittersweet," Vaughn added. "I'm happy to get the game over with so we can move on. It's just one game; it doesn't make or break our season."
The Lady Broncos (9-13, 0-1 in district) were game four minutes into the contest, drawing even at 8-8 after junior Haley Carruthers converted a steal into a layup.
That basket was the smelling salts needed to revive the Lady Wolves (25-2, 1-0), who responded with an 18-0 run to sink Boyd into a 26-8 hole midway through the second quarter.
"We find a way to get a little spurt here and there when we need to," Patterson said. "We sort of relax sometimes -- too much for me -- but they seem to thrive off that. It was a good first game."
The production was widespread during West's surge, with five different Lady Wolves scoring in the second quarter.
Among those was senior Devri Owens, who finished the evening with 13 points, five boards and four steals. Senior Allison Staley knocked down a team-best 14 points and four steals while junior Tyara Warren-Cox added 10 points and five rebounds.
The Lady Wolves turned defense into offense, forcing 17 of 30 turnovers in the first half. By that same accord, Boyd scored just 13 points through two quarters in a 32-13 decision by halftime.
"It always comes back to our defense," Patterson said. "I thought we got our defense moving and we got some breaks. When we start running we shoot the ball better, if we walk we don't shoot as well.
"We got some turnovers and moved the ball, which we need to do more of."
The Lady Broncos cut down on turnovers, ratcheted up their defense and as a result, outscored West, 21-14, in the third stanza. Seniors Micaela Gonzalez and Julia Hendrieth produced 17 of Boyd's points during the run and finished with 12 and 16 points, respectively.
"I think if we would have played each quarter like we played that third quarter," Vaughn said, "we could have given them a ball game. We dug ourselves a hole by halftime and I think our girls got a little discouraged."
The Lady Broncos trimmed the deficit to as few as 11 points at 35-24 in the third quarter and even crept to within 13 at 51-38 with 5:40 left in the fourth, but Staley and sophomore Syndey Skinner -- who scored nine points -- paced an 18-7 West run to close out the game and open up District 10-5A play on a winning note.
The Lady Wolves resume play Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. when travel to Allen while Boyd meets Plano Senior in a road tilt at the same time.
For continued news and coverage on the local sports scene, follow @MWelchSCN on Twitter.
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