Sports > Schools
A tale of two halves: Boyd surrenders lead, falls to Plano
BY Richard C. White, rwhite@starlocalnews.com
The McKinney Boyd girls basketball team gave Plano Senior all it could handle in the first half Tuesday night.
The Lady Wildcats, though, would quickly do the same, turning the table on their district rival in the second half on the way to a 67-43 victory.
"That's the tale of our season right now," said Rochelle Vaughn, Boyd head coach. "We have not figured out a way to play four entire quarters at one time. We played a great first half, had the lead, then we came out in the third and let Plano get a quick 6-0 run against us and our body language completely changed and it snowballed from there."
Boyd (0-2) led Plano (2-0) at the half, 20-19, before the Lady Wildcats promptly turned things around.
"It was hard-fought as Boyd gave us a game in the first half," said Lynn Meger, Plano head coach. "It scared us a little. They're very disciplined. They have some great, aggressive, physical players who made things tough on us. In the second half we kind of woke up."
Leading the way for the Lady Wildcats was a trio of seniors as Wilma Afunugo scored 22 points, Grace Mitchell dropped in 14 and Haley Wray put up 10.
"I told them to be patient," Meger said. "The difference in the second half was really due to two players, Haley and Wilma. Haley didn't have any turnovers in the second half and Wilma also had a strong, dominant second half, which helped us. They were key to our turnaround."
Meger was also impressed by the play from Mitchell.
"Our offense is pretty much ignited by our defense," she said. "Grace Mitchell did a great job of putting pressure on the ball, which made things easier on the offensive end. That was pretty big."
Julia Hendrieth had a team-high 15 points for the Lady Broncos, while JJ Brightwell and Haley Carruthers scored 10 and nine, respectively.
"Julia didn't start tonight," Vaughn said. "She was sick, but came in and gave us great effort off the bench and provided us with a spark. Haley is always consistent for what she provides as far as leadership on the court and JJ is getting better every game."
The trio was instrumental in the Lady Broncos' strong first half, which saw them give the Lady Wildcats plenty of trouble.
"I saw a lot of great things in the first half, especially as far as our defense was concerned," Vaughn said. "We rotated pretty well, matched-up well and executed our game plan."
And Meger sees a bright future for the Lady Broncos.
"They controlled the tempo to start," she said. "They were out-rebounding us early. We had to overcome some adversity because we haven't been down much at halftime. They're going to be fine in district; I think they've got a good shot at making the playoffs."
The Lady Broncos, though, were unable to maintain their effective play from the first half as the Lady Wildcats outscored them in the third, 21-12.
"In the third quarter we made shots and that opened up a whole lot of other things for us," Meger said. "That was the biggest difference; that we settled down. And we were able to wear them down a little by the fourth quarter."
Plano gained even more separation in the final frame, outscoring Boyd, 27-11. At one point in the fourth, Boyd committed back-to-back turnovers as Plano sank several shots from beyond the arc to further expand their lead and set up the 67-43 win.
The two teams return to action Friday when Plano travels to Plano East at 7:30 p.m. while Boyd hosts Allen at 6 p.m.
"Hopefully we can build off the first half moving forward and just keep getting better," Vaughn said. "We are slowly seeing improvement in every game. The players have to see their potential and experience it themselves and they did that to start this game."
The Lady Wildcats, though, would quickly do the same, turning the table on their district rival in the second half on the way to a 67-43 victory.
"That's the tale of our season right now," said Rochelle Vaughn, Boyd head coach. "We have not figured out a way to play four entire quarters at one time. We played a great first half, had the lead, then we came out in the third and let Plano get a quick 6-0 run against us and our body language completely changed and it snowballed from there."
Boyd (0-2) led Plano (2-0) at the half, 20-19, before the Lady Wildcats promptly turned things around.
"It was hard-fought as Boyd gave us a game in the first half," said Lynn Meger, Plano head coach. "It scared us a little. They're very disciplined. They have some great, aggressive, physical players who made things tough on us. In the second half we kind of woke up."
Leading the way for the Lady Wildcats was a trio of seniors as Wilma Afunugo scored 22 points, Grace Mitchell dropped in 14 and Haley Wray put up 10.
"I told them to be patient," Meger said. "The difference in the second half was really due to two players, Haley and Wilma. Haley didn't have any turnovers in the second half and Wilma also had a strong, dominant second half, which helped us. They were key to our turnaround."
Meger was also impressed by the play from Mitchell.
"Our offense is pretty much ignited by our defense," she said. "Grace Mitchell did a great job of putting pressure on the ball, which made things easier on the offensive end. That was pretty big."
Julia Hendrieth had a team-high 15 points for the Lady Broncos, while JJ Brightwell and Haley Carruthers scored 10 and nine, respectively.
"Julia didn't start tonight," Vaughn said. "She was sick, but came in and gave us great effort off the bench and provided us with a spark. Haley is always consistent for what she provides as far as leadership on the court and JJ is getting better every game."
The trio was instrumental in the Lady Broncos' strong first half, which saw them give the Lady Wildcats plenty of trouble.
"I saw a lot of great things in the first half, especially as far as our defense was concerned," Vaughn said. "We rotated pretty well, matched-up well and executed our game plan."
And Meger sees a bright future for the Lady Broncos.
"They controlled the tempo to start," she said. "They were out-rebounding us early. We had to overcome some adversity because we haven't been down much at halftime. They're going to be fine in district; I think they've got a good shot at making the playoffs."
The Lady Broncos, though, were unable to maintain their effective play from the first half as the Lady Wildcats outscored them in the third, 21-12.
"In the third quarter we made shots and that opened up a whole lot of other things for us," Meger said. "That was the biggest difference; that we settled down. And we were able to wear them down a little by the fourth quarter."
Plano gained even more separation in the final frame, outscoring Boyd, 27-11. At one point in the fourth, Boyd committed back-to-back turnovers as Plano sank several shots from beyond the arc to further expand their lead and set up the 67-43 win.
The two teams return to action Friday when Plano travels to Plano East at 7:30 p.m. while Boyd hosts Allen at 6 p.m.
"Hopefully we can build off the first half moving forward and just keep getting better," Vaughn said. "We are slowly seeing improvement in every game. The players have to see their potential and experience it themselves and they did that to start this game."
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