For their second game of the season, the Lady Wolverines traveled to Muleshoe last Friday to compete against the Lady Mules. Throughout the game, the scoreboard displayed a battle between the two teams, unfortunately ending in a loss for Springlake-Earth with a score of 48-54.

“They were working hard and never gave up,” Coach Been said.

Despite the loss to the 2A school, the Lady Wolverines had a promising start to the game.

“I thought that the starting lead shouldn’t have been so close,” sophomore Rylie Furr said. “Emma really stepped up that game to help our team.”

Junior Emma Samaron, with the help of her teammates, made a layup shot and four freethrows, giving SE their first points of the game. The Lady Wolverines finished up the first quarter with a score of 6-17, earning Muleshoe the upper hand in the game.

“I knew that we had to really push ourselves and score some points to catch up,” junior Bella Gonzales said. “I thought that if we kept scoring points like we were, then we would come out successful.”

Moving into the second quarter, the Lady Wolverines kept adding baskets to their score. Senior Halee Toscano led the way, earning a totality of 13 points with four freethrow shots and three three-pointers. Juniors Jasmine Garcia and Sydney Furr also contributed with two points a piece, adding up to a total of 17 points for Springlake-Earth. Watching this performance from the stands was senior Kani Holmes.

“I thought to myself the score was basically zero to zero again. We only had two more quarters to prove how much we wanted the win,” Holmes said. “They have made a big improvement. Watching these girls play made me realize what it’s like to be in the stands and not on the court. They have impressed me.”

During halftime, the score board lit up a total of 26 points for the Lady Mules, maintaining the lead against Springlake-Earth who had a total of 23 points.

“I told them they were doing good and they were only three points down,” Coach Been said. “They just needed to run the offense and quit turning over the ball.”

As the buzzer signaled the end of halftime, both teams positioned themselves on the court and began the third quarter of the game. The Lady Wolverines drove the ball to the basket for a grand total of 13 points during the quarter. Toscano hit an outside shot, earning three points for the team. In addition to this, she made four freethrow shots after two fouls were laid against the Muleshoe team. Junior Taytum Goodman also made a three point shot for the Lady Wolverines. To end off the third quarter, Samaron and Sydney Furr made three points in freethrows, tying the score with 26-26.

“It was really intense, and I thought anything could happen at that point,” Gonzales said.

Being neck and neck in points, both the Lady Mules and Lady Wolverines pulled out all the stops during the fourth quarter in hopes of finishing up the ball game with a win. Samaron lead the team with 10 points in the last quarter. After two layups and six freethrows for Samaron, Goodman added an additional two points in freethrow shots.

“It was like the start of the game again. We were zero and zero again,” Coach Been said.

As the game neared the end, it was unclear who would claim the win. However, Muleshoe’s #20, A. Diaz, drove the ball down the court and made three baskets, earning Muleshoe the six-point lead in the fourth quarter. With time nearing to a close of the game, the Lady Wolverines were unable to recover the ball and make up for Muleshoe’s lead.

“We beat ourselves with turnovers,” Coach Been said. “If we work on turnovers, we win the ball game.”

“I thought we did good and didn’t give up, which is important. We just need to work on our defense, and gain our chemistry back,” S. Furr said. “It’s great practice that we needed, especially in the post position.”

The Lady Wolverines took home the loss, but each player had significant contributions to the game. Toscano finished the game with a contribution of 20 points for the Lady Wolverines, and Samaron followed close behind with a total of 18 points. Together, Goodman, Garcia, and S. Furr added 10 points to SE’s finishing score. Junior Ada Hernandez and R. Furr also had significant contributions to the game.

“Overall, I thought it was a good learning experience for all of us, and we’re going to take what we learned and apply it to our game against Smyer,” R. Furr said.