GOLDTHWAITE — With their postseason possibilities hanging in the balance, the Meridian girls basketball team travels to Goldthwaite today to take on the second place Lady Eagles at 6 p.m. in the District 10-2A regular season finale.
In a thrilling nailbiter against third place DeLeon last Friday night, the Lady Jackets fell just short in the final seconds for a heartbreaking 39-38 loss to the Lady Bearcats.
Senior Dakota Cassidy led Meridian with 16 points, followed by senior Reese Errington with 10, while seniors Mallory Paruszewski and Jalen Clifton pulled down a team-high seven rebounds apiece. But Meridian managed to shot only 21 percent from the field, sinking just 13 of 62 shots.
“The Lady Jackets lost a hard-fought close game to DeLeon on Friday night,” Meridian girls basketball head coach Jill Kendall said. “Super proud of how hard they played. The seniors laid it all on the line, but the shots we needed just didn’t fall our way.”
With the loss to DeLeon, the Lady Jackets (1-6 in district, 15-14 overall) need a victory over state-ranked Goldthwaite (5-2, 24-6) Tuesday, while fourth place Hico (2-5, 20-8) must lose to district-leading Santo (6-1, 21-9) to force a tiebreaker between Hico and Meridian for the final playoff berth.
The Lady Bearcats (4-4, 15-15), who clinched third place with their win over the Lady Jackets, draws an open date Tuesday.
In other District 10-2A action last Friday, 22nd-ranked Santo knocked off 24th-ranked Goldthwaite, 49-39, to take sole possession of first place, while Hico had an open date.
Photos by WENDY OROZCO
