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Saltillo Lady Lions "Close"......

But Must Settle for State Runner-Up

by: Bobby McDonald

It was an emotional end to a hard-fought battle, for the Saltillo Lady Lions, as they saw the seconds "tick away"
on the clock, and realized that they couldn't catch the Whitharral Lady Panthers, Saturday night, in Frank
Erwin Center.

It was a hard-fought battle to the finish, in UT's Frank Erwin Center, Saturday night, as it should be, in a State Championship game, but the ball didn't fall in the favor of the hometown Saltillo Lady Lions. The Lady Lions fought hard against a top notch team, who was making their third appearance at the state tournament, in as many years, and fell short 45-36, as the final buzzer sounded.

The Lady Lions had fallen behind 9-4, in the first period, and experienced a series of three-point shots by the Lady Panthers, that kept them trailing throughout most of the game. The Lady Lion defense forced the Lady Panthers to the outside, but couldn't prevent the three-point shots.

"You have to give it to the Lady Panthers, they could shoot from the outside, really well and sometimes you've just got to find something else," related Coach Garry Davison, in after game comments. "We played extremely hard and sometimes the ball just didn't make it to the basket! I'm extremely proud of this team of young ladies and how they handled themselves against a really tough team!"

Davison told the media that his six senior members had combined a win loss record of 125-16 since they began high school basketball and had only been beaten by State Champions. "You've got to be extremely proud of a team like this and you know they left it all on the court!" expressed Davison.

Game Scoring:

Whitharral 9 12 5 19 = 45
Saltillo 4 10 9 13 = 36