Eagles move into first-place tie in RRAC
SAN ANTONIO — Texas A&m-texarkana held off Our Lady of the Lake on Saturday night, leaving with a 75-68 basketball win and pulling into a first-place tie with Lsu-shreveport in the Red River Athletic Conference.
Both teams are 14-4 in conference with two games remaining.
Tray Spencer notched a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Kobe Powell had 13 points to go with eight rebounds and Connor Ouellette added 11 points.
The Eagles (21-5 overall) dled by as many as 12, thanks to a 38-24 rebound advantage and 25 points from the bench. TAMUT also shot 50 percent from the floor (27-for-54).
TAMU-T will play at Xavier (12-5) on Thursday and Louisiana Christian College (6-10) next Saturday to close out the regular season.
EAGLES WINS 20TH STRAIGHT
SAN ANTONIO — Texas A&m-texarkana overcame one of its worst shooting performances of the season Saturday and escaped with a 64-60 conference win over Our Lady of the Lake, the 20th consecutive win for the Eagles.
TAMUT (23-1 overall, 18-0 RRAC) made just 19 of 60 shots from the floor (31.7 percent), shot 2-of-16 from long range (13 percent) and was even subpar from the free throw line, where they made just 24-of-37 attempts (65 percent).
Fortunately, they were able to force 22 turnovers that led to 24 points, helping offset the cold shooting. OLLU (14-11 overall, 117 RRAC) shot 46 percent from the floor but also struggled from behind the arc, making just 3-of16 attempts.
The Eagles led by six after the first period but were outscored by two points over the final three periods. Bre’asiajah Mathews scored 18 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and added four assists and four steals to lead the way. Vasha Moore added 14 points for TAMUT.
The Eagles finish out the regular season next week with road games at Xavier on Thursday, followed by a trip to Louisiana College next Saturday.
TWO QUALIFY FOR NATIONALS
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Texas A&m-texarkana’s Vincent Nchogun and Charles Dorsett III each punched their tickets to the NAIA National Championships thanks to their performance over the weekend during the Tyson Invitational at the University of Arkansas.
Nchogun finished 13th among 27 competitors during Friday’s 3,000-meter event in a field made up primarily of runners from the Big 12 Conference. His time of 8:25.18 earned him a spot at the NAIA nationals.
On Saturday, Dorsett finished seventh with a time of 1:51.19 in the 800 meters, bested only by runners from Nebraska, Florida, Arkansas and Iowa State. His time also was more than enough to send him to nationals.
The NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships take place March 2-4 in Brookings, South Dakota.
EAGLES EARN TENNIS SPLIT
ABILENE, Texas — The Texas A&m-texarkana women’s tennis team earned a split over the weekend, falling 5-4 to Hardin-simmons
on Friday before bouncing back to beat Mcmurry, 5-4 on Saturday.
The Eagles were forced to default two matches due to illness on both days, which swung the final result in Hardin-simmons’ favor Friday.
Here are the individual results:
TAMU-T vs. HARDIN-SIMMONS (Eagle players listed first) SINGLES
Lydia Oviedo lost 6-2, 6-3; Andrea Barcenas lost 6-2, 6-4; Andrea Castillo won 1-6, 6-2, 6-0; Jaelee Young won 6-2, 6-4; Tatum Sikes won 4-6, 6-2, 10-6; Kenzie Feist (lost by default due to illness).
DOUBLES Oviedo/barcenas lost 8-7; Castillo/feist (lost by default due to illness); Sikes/young won 8-6. TAMU-T vs. MCMURRY SINGLES
Lydia Oviedo won 6-3, 6-1; Andrea Barcenas won 6-1, 6-0; Andrea Castillo won 6-2, 6-0; Jaelee Young won 6-4, 7-5; Tatum Sikes lost 6-4, 4-6, 7-5; Kenzie Feist (lost by default due to illness).
DOUBLES
Oviedo/barcenas won 8-2; Castillo/feist (lost by default due to illness).
TAMU-T WINS TWO MATCHES
ABILENE, Texas — The A&m-texarkana men’s tennis team stayed unbeaten thanks to a pair of wins in Abilene over the weekend. The Eagles (4-0) bested Hardin-simmons, 6-3, on Friday, before sweeping Mcmurry, 9-0, on Saturday.
Here are the individual results:
TAMU-T vs HARDIN-SIMMONS
(Eagle players listed first) SINGLES
Alex Oviedo won 6-1, 6-2; Mauricio Trevino won 6-3, 6-2; Andrew Otzenberger lost 2-6, 7-6, 6-3; Fernando Martinez won 6-3, 6-4; Felipe De la Carrera won 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; Iker Alonso won 7-5, 6-1. DOUBLES
Oviedo/trevino won 8-6; Martinez/de la Carrera lost 8-6; Otzenberger/alonso lost 8-5.
TAMU-T vs. MCMURRY
SINGLES
Alex Oviedo won 6-2, 6-1; Mauricio Trevino won 6-2, 6-0; Andrew Otzenberger won 7-6 (7-4), 6-0; Fernando Martinez won 6-1, 6-0; Felipe De la Carrera won 6-0, 6-0; Iker Alonso won 6-0, 6-3. DOUBLES
Oviedo/trevino won Martinez/de la Carrera won Otzenberger/alonso won 8-1. 8-2; 8-1;
HAWKS CAPTURE 4 MEDALS
TYLER, Texas — Pleasant Grove’s varsity tennis team captured four medals in the 36-team annual Tim King Memorial Tournament hosted by Tyler Legacy (formerly Tyler Lee).
Hawks coach Erik Pickett said this was the biggest tournament in Northeast Texas.
“This was an awesome tournament to get to see so many East Texas teams all at one tournament,” Pickett said. “With 10 sites being used, I believe they had to use almost every court in all of Tyler to host this event.”
The Hawks will travel Feb. 24 to compete in the Kaufman tournament in the Dallas-fort Worth Metroplex.
Here are the individual results of the King Memorial Tournament in Tyler:
Boys A Doubles: Jack Humphrey and Andy Tye, 6th; Boys B Doubles: Whit Miller and Jackson Tomberlain, 2nd; Girls A Doubles: Autumn Crouch and Lynleigh Henderson, consolation finalist; Boys A Singles: John Tomberlain, consolation finalist; Girls A Singles: Lilly Pace, consolation finalist; Mixed A Doubles: Elaina Shellogg and Rhett Gatlin, consolation winners; Hadley Davis and Zachary Bobo, consolation finalist.
FOUR TIGERS EARN MEDALS
CORSICANA, Texas — Four Texas High players won medals Friday in the Mertz Invitational in Corsicana.
Texas High senior Marlee Bledsoe, a Henderson State signee, placed second in Girls ‘A’ singles and Elle Floyd was first in Girls ‘B’ singles.
The Tiger duo of Lakyn Austin and Grace Wilson finished second in Girls ‘A’ doubles and Carter Shuffled and Zain Suelzer won the consolation bracket in Boys ‘A’ doubles.
“They fought through some extremely tough conditions,” said Tiger coach Toby Watson. “I’m so proud of our team’s effort.”
PG SOCCER MATCH MONDAY
Because of a referee shortage, Pleasant Grove’s varsity and junior varsity soccer matches against Paris has been moved to Monday.
The matches were originally set to be played Saturday.
CORRECTION: PHOTOGRAPHER WORKS FOR TXKSPORTS
The Texarkana Gazette committed an error in crediting the sports photo on Page 1B of Saturday’s edition of the Gazette. Photographer Melanie Allen works for Txksports.
The Gazette regrets the error.