BOUNCING RIGHT BACK

After opening second round of District 20-1A play with loss to Blum, previously-undefeated Meridian Lady Jackets respond by knocking off Morgan

As the Meridian Lady Jackets head down the home stretch of the 2023-24 Texas high school girls basketball regular season, they find themselves locked in a tie for first place in District 20-1A.

Despite the disappointing 41-31 road loss to Blum that forced the tie to open the second round of district play last Tuesday, the Lady Jackets bounced right back to knock the Morgan Lady Eagles, 35-22, at home last Friday.

With little room to stumble, the Lady Jackets (7-1 in district, 11-15 overall) face two crucial games this week by visiting the third place Walnut Springs Lady Hornets (6-2, 10-5) at 6 p.m. Tuesday before returning home to host the Covington Lady Owls (2-5, 2-11) at 6 p.m. Friday in Yellowjacket Gymnasium.

“The two games we have this week are very crucial, not only to us, but Walnut Springs and Covington as well,” Meridian girls basketball first-year head coach Adan Reyes said. “Both of these teams are looking to secure wins to put themselves into better positions to secure spots in the playoffs. And we want to make sure that we take care of business so that we can secure a playoff spot and a high seed for playoff pairings.”

Although the Lady Jackets shocked defending champion Blum in the district opener, the Lady Bobcats (7-1, 10-6) earned the regular season split last Tuesday. Meridian jumped out to an 8-4 first quarter lead, but trailed Blum by one at halftime. The Lady Bobcats outscored the Lady Jackets, 16-7, in the third period before Blum secured the avenging victory.

Junior Mariana Paniagua led the Lady Jackets with 11 points, followed by junior Journey Stauffer with eight points, and senior Canyon Stauffer with seven.

“We knew going into Blum for round two of district that they were going to come out determined to split with us,” Reyes said. “We came out strong, and Blum responded. We went back and forth, but we had a lapse in the third quarter. That allowed them to build a lead big enough to prevent us from coming back.”

But Meridian got right back on the winning track last Friday as the Lady Jackets carried a 17-9 lead into intermission before Morgan (2-6, 5-14) began clawing back in the third period to pull within five. Meridian responded by outscoring the Lady Eagles, 12-4, in the final frame to get back on the winning track.

Sophomore Dyna Potter led Meridian with 10 points, followed by Canyon Stauffer with seven, Journey Stauffer with six, and senior Eve Dirkse with five.

“Our game against Morgan on Friday was an important one,” Reyes said. “You always worry how your team is going to respond. Even though we didn’t do as well as we would have liked on offense, we have always prided ourselves on playing a great defense game. And fortunately, that was the case since our offense was out of sync.”