Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Squads Bounced From Regionals

As is often the case, teams spend all their energy and efforts making it to the finals of a tournament.

This happened to the Nevada Blue Jays as they were a surprise team in the AA Regional Tournament finals at Gurdon last week.

However, by battling so hard to make to the finals the Jays had nothing left in the tank when they went up against Stephens.

The Roadrunners then lived up to their name and raced off with the title by whipping Nevada 76-46.

On the girls side of the bracket, it came down to an upstart Genoa Central team and Lewisville's Lady Red Devils.

The Lady Dragons had ventured where no Genoa girls team had gone before in reaching the regional finals, but came up short 41-31.

These four teams earned trips to the state tournament at Marmaduke.

Nevada earned its battle with Stephens by edging Lewisville 68-61 Friday, Feb. 25.

The Red Devils had the taller team, but the Jays showed more heart.

It was an up and down game as the teams set a quick pace, though neither scored much early on.

The Red Devils showed quick hands, but made poor shot selections and didn't take advantage of their superior height under the board.

Nevada played blue collar basketball, working hard for each and every point. The Jays led 17-13 after one.

The Jays solved the riddle of Lewisville's height in the second period, making sure the ball was in the hands of an open man for a relatively easy shot.

Halftime arrived with Nevada leading 38-27.

It was more of the same at the start of the third quarter, as Nevada continued playing solid basketball and stretched its lead to 20, only to see Lewisville claw its way back into the game.

By the end of three, the lead had been cut to nine at 51-42.

Nevada showed signs of fatigue as the final period got underway. No matter what the Jays did, the Red Devils had an answer for.

Midway through the quarter the Jays began showing more patience and quit trying to run with Lewisville.

This slowed the game down and gave Nevada players more time to catch their breath.

Lewisville was able to cut the lead to three at 64-61 with 0:55.8, but got no closer as the Jays salted the win away down the stretch.

Genoa reached the finals by demolishing Gurdon's senior girls 53-24.

The Lady Dragons were on fire from the start as they built a 15-6 lead in the first period and played a methodical offense and a smothering defense to keep Gurdon off balance.

The Lady Devils fought back in the second quarter, trying to stay close. Gurdon wanted to run, but Genoa showed patience and controlled the pace of the game.

Halftime arrived with the score 23-15 Genoa.

Gurdon literally couldn't buy a basket in the third quarter. The Lady Devils had their shots, but couldn't get the ball to go down and ended up not scoring in the frame.

Meanwhile, Genoa plodded away, scoring 20 points in the third, taking advantage of Gurdon mistakes and turnovers.

The third quarter ended with Genoa leading 43-15.

The Lady Devils were never able to get their transition game going, even though the team was aggressive and physical.

Gurdon's offense was sorely lacking as the Lady Devils only scored four field goals in the second half.

Gurdon's Lady Devils made it to the semifinals by clipping Caddo Hills 48-43 in overtime.

This game was wild from the start as Gurdon got the tip, put the ball on the floor and a scramble ensued.

While there was plenty of action in the contest, scoring came slow. In fact, Gurdon scored the game's first bucket with 6:42 left in the opening period.

Caddo Hills managed to get on the board with 5:17 showing.

The officials were kept busy calling foul after foul as the two squads battered one another from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

Gurdon's offense came alive late in the first quarter as the Lady Devils took a 14-9 lead.

Caddo's Lady Indians made poor decisions in the second quarter, but still managed to keep the game close.

Gurdon's problem came at the free throw line where the girls had problems making the charity shots.

This allowed Caddo Hills to climb back into the game at halftime though they trailed 24- 21.

The Lady Devils came out pressing in the third quarter, while the Lady Indians appeared to be flat offensively.

Caddo players stood around waiting for the ball to come to them instead of moving toward it, or working to get open.

The quarter ended with Gurdon leading 34-28.

Caddo Hills came alive in the fourth period as they chipped away at Gurdon's lead, tying the game at 37-37 with 2:40 showing.

With two minutes left in the game, the teams were knotted at 40-40. However, neither team was able to score again in regulation play, though both had their chances.

For a second it looked like Gurdon would win in regulation when Brandi Escalante hit what looked like a three pointer late. However, the ball had first hit the top of the backboard and the bucket was waived off by the officials.

As time ran down in the game, Gurdon missed four straight shots.

This sent the game into overtime. Gurdon's cheerleaders had the gym rocking as the extra four minutes began.

Gurdon got the tip off the jump, lost the ball and saw Caddo score the first points.

This, though, proved to be the last points the Lady Indians would score as the Lady Devils scored the next eight points for the win.

Gurdon's senior boys made the mistake of underestimating the Foreman Gators and didn't make it past their first game.

The Gators posted a 76-61 win over the Devils.

The Devils were the visitors on their home court, and had a score to try to settle with Foreman after getting robbed during football season.

Unfortunately though, Foreman came to play and made Gurdon pay for looking ahead in the tournament.

Foreman jumped out to a 13-8 lead in the first quarter and was up 37-29 at the half.

The fans, however, were treated to a track meet as the two squads raced up and down the hardwood.

In the third quarter Gurdon cut Foreman's lead to 47-44 with 1:54 showing, pressing the Gator offense and trying to force mistakes.

However, the Gators responded, kept Gurdon at bay and nailed a shot at the buzzer to take a 55-50 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Gators were fluid on offense during the last eight minutes of the game, while Gurdon played its typical style of controlled chaos.

Foreman scored the first four points of the period and was in the bonus with 6:38 left.

The Devils never quit. Instead they pulled out all the stops as Gurdon worked to keep its season alive.

Unfortunately, the Devils' shots were just off and Gurdon was unable to get many second chances as Foreman players camped under the defensive board.

Regardless what Gurdon tried, Foreman was able to counter and hold on for the win.

Genoa's senior girls opened tourney play with a 49-24 win over the Lady Lions of Horatio.

The Lady Dragons were particular in taking their shots and methodical in working the ball to the open player.

Genoa led 12-2 after one, but slacked off in the second quarter, allowing Horatio to cut the lead to 16-12 by halftime.

It was all Genoa in the second half as Horatio was only able to score 12 more points in the game.

Nevada's Blue Jays made it out of round one by clipping Mt. Ida's Lions 68-54.

The Jays were able to control the pace of the game and keep the Lions off balance.

Still Mt. Ida managed an 11-7 lead at the end of one, only to see Nevada tie the game at 25-25 by halftime.

The Jays outscored the Lions 22-15 in the third quarter to recapture the momentum and go up 47-40.

Nevada made use of a 9-0 run midway through the period and never looked back.

The fourth quarter saw Nevada slow the pace down once again and force Mt. Ida to play out of its game.