MOORE — The Westmoore girls went 2-1 over the weekend at the Newcastle tournament and took third place after beating the Newcastle Saturday.
“I was very pleased with our overall performance at Newcastle,” Westmoore coach Andrea Guziec said. “We were focused, played hard, and executed game plans well.”
After winning its first round game Thursday, the Jaguars took on Bethal in the semifinals Friday. They had their chances to win down the stretch of a tight ball game, but were unable to make a shot when they needed. Bethel won 43-41.
“With the group we have, this was the first time we had a game finish like our semifinal game with Bethel,” Guziec said. “We led by a few points down the stretch and didn’t have baskets fall while Bethel did. At the end of the game, we had a chance to score to win it and got a good shot but it didn’t go in. We learned a lot from that finish and we will do better and bet better prepared the next time we are in that situation.”
After the tough loss, Westmoore returned to the court Saturday to face Newcastle. Instead of letting the defeat bring them down, the Lady Jags came out and won 48-40.
“It says a lot,” Guziec said. “We didn’t have a good first half against Newcastle. We talked in the locker room at halftime about not allowing missed shots to dictate how we play the rest of the game. We can still play good defense, still block out and rebound strong, still hustle after loose balls. The girls really responded and showed great maturity in making those other things happen…and shots started falling after that.”
Guziec was impressed with the play she got from Sydney Chastain, who played all 32 minutes in all three games.
“She was invaluable to us this weekend and has gained confidence and was very poised on the floor,” Guziec said. “This is infectious to our team and gave the rest of the team confidence as well.”
Westmoore continued its strong play with a 61-58 victory over Del City Tuesday. Ashley Gomez, Sydney Chastain and Kaci Richardson each posted 12 points.
The Jags have games against No. 4 Southmoore and No. 7 Norman North this week.
