L-E teams shine: Liberty-Eylau girls earn top seed; boys climb back into playoff picture

Liberty-Eylau's Taylor Crabtree rushes up the court to shoot as Pittsburgh's Maxie Ivory defends Friday, Feb. 5, 2016 in Texarkana, Texas.
Liberty-Eylau's Taylor Crabtree rushes up the court to shoot as Pittsburgh's Maxie Ivory defends Friday, Feb. 5, 2016 in Texarkana, Texas.

One Liberty-Eylau team is playoff-bound, and another made a case for itself Friday at the Rader Dome.

The Lady Leopards claimed at least a share of the District 15-5A championship, and earned the league's top seed on Senior Night, defeating Pittsburg, 63-56.

L-E's boys fell into a deep hole early, but dominated after climbing out to beat the Pirates, 67-46.

Both L-E and Pittsburg boys are now tied in district at 2-5 and have split the regular season series.

 

Girls

 

L-E 63, Pittsburg 57

Pittsburg appeared much better than its 1-8 district record Friday after rallying from an early 17-point deficit to capture the lead midway into the fourth quarter on an Ayanna Palmer trey to put the Lady Pirates on top, 41-40.

Palmer poured in 36 points, including five 3-pointers. No other Pittsburg girl scored more than four points.

The Leopards converted 14 of 35 from the charity stripe.

The Leopards (20-7, 8-1) also had 27 turnovers, but offset that by dominating the boards, 67-22.

Maya Polley, Chelsea Fagan and Lakena Dunn combined for 38 points. Fagan pulled down a game-high 20 rebounds. Dunn grabbed 13 caroms, while Polley contributed 10.

It was Polley, who converted a conventional three-point play at the end of the third quarter to put L-E on top, 47-44.

Dunn swished two free throws 6 seconds into the final quarter, and Polley scored again to make it 51-46.

Pittsburg (11-20, 1-8) would pull within three on two more occasions with Palmer hitting treys.

However, it was little Taylor Crabtree putting the contest to rest with 10 of her team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter.

The L-E girls close out the regular season Tuesday at Atlanta.

 

Pittsburg    9    20    15    12    -    56

Liberty-Eylau    19    17    11    16    -    63

PITTSBURG (56): Palmer 12 7-11 36, Leonard 1 0-0 2, Ivory 1 0-0 3, Harkey 1 0-0 2, Waldrep 1 0-0 2, Bullock 1 0-0 3, Smith 1 0-0 2, Duffey 1 2-2 4, Hamilton 1 0-2 2. TOTALS 20 9-15 56.

L-E (63): Crabtree 7 4-13 19, Dunn 3 4-7 10, Reynolds 3 0-2 6, Fagan 4 3-10 11, Polley 7 3-3 17. TOTALS 24 14-35 63.

3-point goals: PITT-Palmer 5, Ivory, Bullock. LE-Crabtree. Team Fouls: Pittsburg 22, Liberty-Eylau 13. Fouled Out: Harkey.

 

Boys

 

L-E 67, Pittsburg 46

As the old cliche goes, it was do-or-die for the Leopards against the Pittsburg boys. A loss would have eliminated L-E from the postseason picture.

Pittsburg got off to a quick start with senior Brian Baca hitting a pair of treys, the last one giving the Pirates a 16-7 lead.

It was 18-11 at the first break, and Deldric Shields scored early in the second quarter to put the Bucs up, 20-11.

Three minutes later L-E (13-11, 2-5) was leading, 21-20. Sophomore Decorrian Phillips came off the bench to hit two 3-pointers and postman Orion Williams converted a three-point play with a layup and free throw.

It ended up being a 12-0 run for the Leopards, who would not trail again, although the Pirates would not go away.

Back-to-back treys by Phillips and Demarcus Pegue in the final seconds of the third quarter made it 51-32.

The Pirates scored the next 10 points, but once again L-E pulled away with seven players contributing points.

Phillips finished with 17 points, and Deontae Crawford scored 11.

Shields was the only Pirates in double digits with 20 points.

L-E's junior varsity beat the Pirates, 68-37. Jordan Davis scored 18 points and Isaiah Cross added 12. L-E's freshmen lost a 39-36 decision.

 

Pittsburg    18    9    8    11    -    46

Liberty-Eylau    11    23    17    16    -    67

PITTSBURG (46): Porter 2 2-6 7, Baca 2 2-2 8, Williams 1 0-0 2, Shields 9 0-0 20, Hollins 2 0-0 5, Dowell 1 0-0 2, Hill 1 0-2 2. TOTALS 18 4-10 46.

L-E (67): Hall 1 1-2 3, Meadows 4 1-2 9, Miles 2 0-1 5, Thurston 0 1-2 1, Williams 0 2-2 2, Crawford 5 1-4 11, Pegue 1 0-0 3, Phillips 7 0-0 17, Hernandez 1 0-0 2, Harper 3 0-0 6, Williams 2 2-3 6, Gray 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 27 8-16 67.

3-point goals: PIT-Baca 2, Shields 2, Porter, Hollins. LE-Phillips 2, Miles, Pegue. Team Fouls: Pittsburg 16, Liberty-Eylau 11.

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