Liberty-Eylau forced 11 turnovers in the second quarter in what turned into the theme of the night as the Lady Leopards hosted Paris in both teams' District 14-4A opener Friday at the Rader Dome.
L-E ended up forcing 38 turnovers by the Lady Wildcats, who turned the ball over 17 times in the fourth quarter, as the Leopards fought their way to a 72-57 victory that was close until the final minute. Liberty-Eylau, which trailed by five in the opening minutes, took the lead midway through the first quarter and led the rest of the way, rattling off eight points over the final 56 seconds to make the final score a bit deceptive.
Liberty-Eylau shot just 36 percent from the field against a tall Paris team. The Leopards used their speed to get off 78 attempts, converting 28. Paris made 21 of 51 for a shooting percentage of 41.
L-E (13-10, 1-0) had just 14 turnovers and lost the rebounding battle by a narrow margin, 50-46.
"We played well, and I told the girls in the locker room, 'This was a great team win,'" Liberty-Eylau head coach Aquanetta Watson said. "We shared the ball extremely well. It started in the Hallsville tournament, and I told them then that we were peaking at the right time.
"We had a roller coaster up until the Hallsville tournament, and we took two tough losses-one by three points and one by two."
Wildcat junior forward Kiaunsha Jackson led all scorers with 25 points and also pulled down a game-high 21 rebounds. No other player for Paris (11-11, 0-1) scored in double figures.
Three Leopards scored in double figures, led by Taylor Crabtree's 22 points. Skylier Bailey pumped in 17 points with a trio of 3-pointers, and Kaliyah Thompson had 13 points.
Liberty-Eylau erased its early deficit and took a 15-13 lead into the first break. The Leopards opened the second quarter on a 10-4 rally to go up eight (25-17) with five different players scoring for L-E during the streak. Crabtree netted the last eight points of the half as the home team matched Paris over the last 4:38 to take a 34-25 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter L-E extended its advantage to 40-25 and 48-32 before the Wildcats answered with a 7-point run to make it a single-digit deficit again. The Leopards led 54-43 entering the fourth, when the Liberty-Eylau lead ranged from 13 (61-48) to seven points (64-57).
The final minute was all Liberty-Eylau to seal the hard-fought victory.
"They're doing a great job," Watson said. "With what my coaching staff and myself are trying to get them to do, they're just buying in. They're responding well. We're getting some girls to shoot the ball who usually don't shoot the ball; if you don't shoot it you don't know if you'll ever make it."
Liberty-Eylau won the junior varsity game, 34-14. Kurstyne Bailey led the Leopards with eight points, and Zoe Tucker and Mariah Coleman added five apiece. Yas Browner led Paris with 10 points.
Paris 13 12 18 14 - 57
Liberty-Eylau 15 19 20 18 - 72
PARIS (57): Brown 2 4-8 8, Savage 3 1-2 7, Sanders 3 2-4 9, Jackson 10 5-10 25, Croom 1 0-0 2, Jones 2 2-2 6, Dowdy 0 0-2 0, TOTALS 21-51 14-28 57.
L-E (72): Crabtree 8 6-18 22, Ke. Norris 2 1-3 5, A. Thompson 1 0-2 2, Henderson 2 0-0 4, Ka. Norris 0 1-2 1, K. Thompson 5 1-2 13, Bailey 7 0-0 17, Hurd 2 0-0 4, Meadows 1 1-2 3, Gentry 0 1-2 1, TOTALS 28-78 11-31 72.
3-point goals: PRS-Sanders; LE-Bailey 3, K. Thompson 2. Team fouls: Paris 26, Liberty-Eylau 19. Fouled out: Savage, Sanders, Croom.