Dateline: February 20, 2003

Lady Owls win area championship

B:y Tangela Copelin

The Hedley Lady Owls overcame an early deficit to capture the Class A Area Championship and defeated the girls from Ft. Elliott, 64-48, last Friday in Pampa.

The Lady Cougars jumped to an early lead in the Harvester Gym, but the Lady Owls rallied in later periods to win by a 16-point margin.

“Despite a slow start, the girls played hard when they needed to and came out during the fourth quarter to play with determination, scoring 21 points,” said Coach Kenneth Housden.

Scoring for Hedley were Lauren Hill, 21; Haley Bennett, 13; Sealey Stevens, 12; Rebekah Howard, 11; and Lacey Wallendorff, 7.

Others players contributing were Allison Hill, Treva Rowland, Julie Funderburg, Kasi Woodard, Megan Hall, Sarah Bolin, Kyra Stevens, and Brittney Bennett.

The Area Championship came after the Lady Owls traveled to Canyon last Tuesday to take on the perennial powerhouse team, the Nazareth Swiffettes, in the Bi-District title game.

The Lady Owls stormed the court taking an early lead and soundly defeating their opponents, 61-36.

“The girls played good pressure defense and good team offense hitting the open player very well to pull off this team victory,” said Housden.

Scoring were Rebekah Howard, 27; Haley Bennett, 20; Sealey Stevens, 5; Kasi Woodard, 5; and Lauren Hill, 4.

The Lady Owls traveled on Tuesday to Floydada for the Regional Semi-Finals against Spur.  Results were not available at press time. Scores and future games will be posted at www.ClarendonOnline.com.