Apache Ladies dropped by Blinn in Region 14 Tourney

Box Score:  https://njcaaregion14.com/sports/wbkb/2023-24/boxscores/20240313_mky4.xml

Phil Hicks-Tyler Morning Telegraph

It's tough to beat a team three times and it turned out to be true for the Apache Ladies on Wednesday.

After defeating Blinn twice during the regular season, TJC could not pull off the hat trick, falling to the Lady Buccaneers, 77-72, in a quarterfinals game of the Region XIV Women's Basketball Tournament at Wagstaff Gymnasium.

BLINN 77, TJC 72

Blinn (22-9), the No. 4 seed, advances to the semifinals to meet No. 1 Angelina (22-9) at 1 p.m. Friday.

It was a foul-fest game with the teams shooting a total of 77 free throws. The squads could not get into a flow.

Blinn hit 37 of 49 free throw attempts, while TJC was 20 of 28.

Tyler battled from behind to go ahead 59-58 on an inside bucket from Fanta Kone with 7:05 on the clock in the fourth quarter.

At that point, Blinn scored seven straight points, all at the free throw line, for a 66-59 advantage.

Then it was TJC's turn as the Apache Ladies tied the game at 66-66 with 4:28 showing. Kiana Bennett hit two free throws, followed by a 3-pointer and a bucket from Lillian Jackson.

After baskets from Blinn's Jasmyn Jackson and TJC's Grace Ezebilo tied the game at 68-68, Chelsey Singleton put the Lady Bucs ahead for good with a bucket at two minutes. Singleton's big shot came at 1:25 with the shot clock winding down as she drained a 3-pointer for a 73-68 lead.

Ezebilo followed with an old-fashioned three-point play to get Tyler within 73-71 with 1:12 showing. Neither team scored again until Jonesha Nea drained two free throws with 17.9 seconds showing to put the game out of reach.

TJC Coach Trenia Tillis Hoard lamented about the number of fouls with her team in foul trouble much of the game with posts Ezeilo and Fenisha Bertho fouling out and Kone, Amari Welch and Jackson all playing with four fouls.

BC Coach Jeff Jenkins noted Nea, who hit 13 of 13 at the free throw line, is normally a 58% shooter at the charity stripe.

The Apache Ladies outrebounded the Lady Bucs, 48-34.

Ezebilo led TJC with 14 points while grabbing 17 rebounds for a double double. Others scoring for Tyler were Welch (12), Kone (10), Jackson (9), Alexandria Jefferson (8), Bertho (8), Bennett (6) and Scejeonna Anderson (5).

Tyler was 6 of 19 from 3-point (Welch, 3; Jefferson, 1; Bennett, 1; Anderson, 1).

Singleton led Blinn with 20 points, followed by Nea (18) Wynter Jones (10), Tianna Mathis (7), Jackson (6), DJ Kincade (5), Tocarra Johnson (4), Elizabeth Walton (3), Nala Richardson (3) and Ja'Nya Thomas (2).

Blinn was 4 of 14 from 3-point (Singleton, 3; Mathis, 1).

The Apache Ladies (18-13) won both regular season games — 72-68 in Brenham on Jan. 17 and 80-70 in Tyler on Feb. 17.

In other games on Wednesday, Angelina defeated Coastal Bend, 75-63; and Trinity Valley won over Paris, 83-61. Kilgore played Panola in the late game. 

The women take Thursday off as the men return to play with quarterfinals matchups.

Thursday's schedule includes: Game 9: No. 1 Lee (26-3, 17-2) vs. No. 8 Paris (18-13, 9-10), 1 p.m.; Game 10: No. 4 Blinn (23-7, 14-5) vs. No. 5 Kilgore (23-8, 12-7), 3 p.m.; Game 11: No. 2 Panola (25-5, 16-3) vs. No. 7 Navarro (18-12, 10-0), 6 p.m.; and Game 12: No. 3 Trinity Valley (23-7, 14-5) vs. No. 6 Angelina (21-10, 11-8), 8 p.m.

Ticket prices for each session will be $8 for adults, $5 for students (must present a student ID) and children under 12, and free for children under 5.

A tournament pass will be available for $40.

A session is two games. The gym will be cleared after each session.

Tournament parking will be in the lots north of the Pat Hartley Field Complex located on the corner of Palmer Avenue and Fifth Street.