This past weekend the Lady Blue Devils and Blue Devil Basketball teams traveled to Arapaho for the Western Equipment Classic.
The girls started the weekend off with a hard-fought loss at the hands of the Amber-Pocasset Panthers. The girls fought hard but could not withstand the pressure of the Lady Panthers losing 60-13. On that night three different Lady Blue Devils had three points a piece.
On Friday the girls were matched up against the Sayre Lady Eagles, Tristen Riemer came up with six points against the Lady Eagles, but in the end the Lady Blue Devils were unable to come up with the win, losing 41-15.
On Saturday the Lady Blue Devils drew the Snyder Lady Cyclones. The Lady Blue Devils got off to a fast start by scoring 20 points in the first quarter. At halftime the Lady Blue Devils had established a lead, but they let that lead slip away, and found themselves down by 12 points at one point in the third quarter .
The Lady Blue Devils continued to fight, and found themselves tied as the game reached zeros. The Lady Blue Devils dominated the overtime period, and were able to come up with the first victory of the season 62-57 over the Lady Cyclones. Birdie Brown had 25 points and McKinsey Gray had 21 points to pace the Lady Blue Devils.
Lady Blue Devils Coach Josh Trent said, “The girls played really hard and together, and that really got the offense going. It was good to get a win for their confidence going forward for the rest of the season. He is very proud of them.”
The Blue Devils were matched up in the first round of the tournament against the Southwest Covenant Patriots, and the length of the Patriots gave the Blue Devils fit. They were not able to overcome the early hole that they dug losing 70-28.
However, the fortunate situation in playing in a tournament is that you get the opportunity to bounce back- and bounce back the Blue Devils did.
The Blue Devils were matched up with the Cheyenne- Reydon Bears, and the Blue Devils jumped out to an early lead 15-12 after the first quarter, and 27-21 at the half.
The second half was a dog fight, and the Blue Devils were able to stave off a late push from the Bears and came out with the win 52-48.
Danny Corbin led the Blue Devils with 15 points while JD Maddox had a double double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
On Saturday the Blue Devils were also matched up with the Snyder Cyclones. After a slow start the Blue Devils cut the lead to five at the half.
Coming out of the half the Blue Devils made a run, but the Cyclones were able to stretch the lead to 10 at the end of the third quarter.
The Blue Devils pressed late trying to make the Cyclones make some mistakes, but they were unable to do so, and ended up losing 60-42.
The Blue Devils were once again led by Danny Corbin with 18 points, JD Maddox added 11, and Harlee Taylor chipped in with 6 points.
Blue Devils Coach Vaughn Blankenship said, “This weekend was a great building block for our program. The boys played for the community they love and put one another ahead of themselves. He is super excited about the culture that is being built. Go Blue Devils!”
Overall, this was a great week for the Lady Blue Devils and Blue Devils as both teams were able to get their first wins of the season.