Every game is as important as the next. Winning games during the regular season is great and losing is always horrible. But when it comes to playing in the 2A-4 District Tournament, previous wins and losses against opponents are ancient history. If any game could prove that, it would be the game between the Magazine Lady Rattlers and the JC Westside Lady Rebels in the girls District Tournament Round1 game on Tuesday, February 13th.
Magazine jumped into action from the get-go with a quick 6-0 lead over the Lady Rebels. The Lady Rattlers were playing rough and tough defense to go along with their scoring which held JC Westside at bay for most of the opening quarter. Although JC Westside was very smooth with their passes, they couldn’t seem to put points up just as smoothly. As everything looked like Magazine was going to cruise through the game, the Lady Rebels tied the game at 6-6 with 0:12 seconds left in a late-quarter fury of offense. The Lady Rattlers were able to regain the lead with 0:02 seconds left off of a layup to close the opening quarter with a narrow 8-6 lead.
With JC Westside’s late surge, Magazine knew that they had to squash the rebellion early in the second quarter to survive. The Lady Rattlers drained a three-point shot to do just that but JC Westside had their cannons loaded with threes of their own. The Lady Rebels melted down the barrels and went on a 10-point run with three straight three-point shots and a free throw to light up the scoreboard on Magazine. The Lady Rattlers broke the scoring streak with a layup, but JC Westside kept firing at will, stretching their lead out with jump shots and then closed out the half with a sweet hook shot to go into halftime ahead of Magazine 27-18.
With neither team wanting to go one and done in the District Tournament, the Lady Rebels and Lady Rattlers came out of halftime ready for war. Magazine struck first with a three-point shot and a pair of free throws to close down the Lady Rebels lead to 27-22. JC Westside would again sink a three-pointer though which forced Magazine to call a time-out with 4:17 left in the third quarter. The short break must’ve either put both teams offenses on ice or set their defenses on fire as neither scored for the next two minutes. The Lady Rebels were the first to break the offensive iceberg with a passing combo that led to a layup. Both teams sank a three-point shot just before the buzzer. The back and forth by Magazine and JC Westside ended the quarter having the same nine-point gap as the halftime score, but with different numbers as the Lady Rebels led Magazine 35-26 going into the fourth and final quarter of the game.
The fourth quarter was all JC Westside as the Lady Rebels whistled dixie while going on a 19-2 scoring run against Magazine. Magazine couldn’t stop the onslaught of scoring as the Lady Rebels landed points off of layups, putbacks, board buckets, and free throws. With JC Westside having the game in their control, Magazine shipped out Senior Rattler, Elizabeth Greek. Greek suffered a complete ACL tear and two complex meniscus tears in the Lady Rattlers December 2nd game versus Mulberry. But in typical Lady Rattler fashion, Greek powered through her January 16th surgery and returned to the court in the final minute of the game against JC Westside to break the Lady Rebels scoring run with a board bucket. When all was said and done though, it was the Lady Rebels who came out on top with a stunning 55-32 upset victory over Magazine.
The JC Westside Lady Rebels sent out the first shock waves of the 2A-4 District Tournament, but possibly not their last. JC Westside will now look to take their momentum into Round2 of the tournament as they take on the Lavaca Lady Golden Arrows on Tuesday, February 14th. Although it may be Valentines Day, there is no love lost between the two programs which should lead up to quite a showdown when they tip off at 7:00pm at the Mansfield High School gymnasium.
