Taking charge

Lady Leopards cage Lady Wildcats, 72-57

TEXARKANA, Texas — After starting out sluggish, Liberty-Eylau quickly regained control of its varsity district basketball game.

The Lady Leopards downed Paris Friday night at the

Rader Dome, 72-57.

“Tonight, we were able to get some younger players involved,” Liberty-Eylau head coach Lamarcus Franklin said. “It was great to get them involved. I believe that’s going to help us down the road.”

The Leopards were able to send in flurries of substitutions, which kept Paris on its heels, while also tiring the Wildcats.

Bryana Block was a catalyst for the Leopards on both ends of the court.

Block finished with a game-high 30 points and six steals. Tiyana Williams topped Paris with 18 points and teammate Jazz Dangerfield added eight points.

“One of our emphasis for this week was to play great defense,” Franklin said. “We kinda been struggling lately, letting teams hang around that shouldn’t be around, and that’s a direct result of our defensively effort.”

Paris opened the second half slicing into L-E’s cushion. The Wildcats went on a 11-3 run, cutting into the Leopards’ lead, 43-28.

Kayla Crabtree slashed to the basket for a layup on Liberty-Eylau’s next offensive possession with 3:20 left in the quarter.

Crabtree ended the night with 13 points and six steals for the Leopards.

Liberty-Eylau continued to force Paris turnovers at the half-court line with the the hosts’ defensive pressure.

The Leopard transition buckets gave way for a 20-point lead with 3:48 left before intermission, 33-13.

Myah Hurd and Janiya Sanders had back-to-back buckets on Paris turnovers to give the Leopards a 25-point cushion, 40-15, with 1:30 before the half.

Hurd and Sanders finished the game with eight points each.

Every Leopard player saw action in the first half.

After opened the contest stagnant, the Leopards went on a 20-2 run after forcing four consecutive Wildcat turnovers.

The Leopards’ full-court pressure forced seven turnovers in quarter, while yielding none.

“We took better shots tonight as a team,” Franklin said. “We want to make sure we’re executing our offense. We just want to beat Pittsburg on Tuesday, so we can focus on Gilmer and possibly winning a district championship next Friday.”

Liberty-Eylau beat Paris in the junior varsity game, 33-24.

Bre Adams led the Leopards with a game-high 19 points. the first