Season fi nale

The Rockdale Lady Tiger basketball team’s season came to an end with hard-fought 44-32 loss to the Franklin Lady Lions.

“I think we did pretty good,” said Meredith Caffey, finishing up her first season as the head coach for the Rockdale High School girl’s basketball team. “We didn’t lose by the margin that we lost by last time and we played together as a team.

In the first meeting at Franklin on Friday, Jan. 11, the Lady Lions defeated the blue-and-gold 62-18, holding the Lady Tigers to nine points in each half.

This time at home, Rockdale kept the Texas Sportwriters Association’s fifth-ranked team in class 3A with- in two points for most of the opening quarter and trailed 11-6 going into the second. The Lady Lions went on a little bit of a run near the end of the half, leading over the Lady Tigers 30-16 at the intermission.

The Robertson County squad held a double-digit lead through the third quarter and sustained their stable lead for most of the final quarter. Midway through the fourth, the Lady Tigers battled with the Lady Lions, reducing their 18-point lead down to eight, and lost 44-32.

“They really, really went out there and got some big rebounds and made some key shots,” Caffey said. “We were in a lot better position than the last time we played Franklin.

“I changed up the defense I ran against (Franklin). We also just tried to key in on their main shooters and made sure they wouldn’t catch that ball clean which is how they were able to get perfect shots off the last time we played them.”

Anna Harmon led RHS with nine points,13 rebounds, six blocks, four assists and three steals. Andrea Salazar had seven points and six rebounds and Miah Beckwith had six points and four rebounds. Payton Miller had four and K’Tacia May-berry, Jena Locklin and Amajahnae Valdez each had two points in their season farewell.

The Lady Tigers were 13 from 37 from the floor with a 35 percent shooting percentage and made five of their six free throws.

SEASON WRAP-UP—Rockdale finished the 2018-2019 season 4-10 in District 19-3A play with wins over McGregor (50-49, 46-32) and Cameron (45-33, 45-29).

“I think the season went okay,” Caffey said. “We won all the games we were supposed to win.

“Being a young team, we’re okay. This was a building year, so we’re going to take all that experience we got from playing and try to put towards next season and just focus on the fundamentals in the mean time. We’re really looking forward to next year.”

Besides Mayberry, every player on the 2018-2019 Rockdale Lady Tiger basketball team is expected to return for the 2019-2020 season. Harmon, who averaged 14.1 points in district is a sophomore, will return. Starting point guard Miller, leading rebounder Salazar and fast guard Valdez are all juniors. Beckwith is a sophomore and Yarely Navarro is a freshman.

Locklin and Brande Breithaupt, who saw varsity minutes this season coming up from the junior varsity will also be on the floor for RHS next season.

“We also have a lot of good players from our eighth grade class that will be in high school next year,” Caffey said. “I’m really looking forward to the growth in our program.”

LAST WEEK—On Friday, the Lady Tigers lost 58-36 to Rogers. Salazar had 12, Harmon had nine, Miller had eight and Navarro had seven. Three days earlier, RHS lost 37-34 to Troy on the final play of the game. Salazar was fouled from behind the three-point line as time expired on the game clock with the chance to bring the game into overtime if she made all three free throws.

Salazar missed the first one, leading to the end of the game and a 37-34 win for the Trojanettes, marking their second loss to Troy in district play. Harmon and Salazar both had 12 and Valdez and Miller both had four. Beckwith had two.