The Lady Bumblebees scored 33 second-half points and halted Salado’s 19-game district winning streak with a 44-30 victory in the girls game, before the Academy boys followed suit with 33 second-half points of their own in a 54-47 win over the Eagles.
Girls
Salado (15-8 overall, 4-1 in 25-2A), which hadn’t dropped a district game since the 2006-07 season, stymied Academy (16-5, 4-0) in the first half with its 2-3 zone defense but couldn’t produce enough offense to pull away.
And once the Lady Bees solved the zone, the Lady Eagles had no answer for the post play of Callie Chudej and Taylor Robinson.
After Salado had grabbed its largest lead at 19-11 just 3 minutes into the second half, Chudej and Robinson combined for nine of the game’s next 15 points to put Academy out front for good.
“Our girls just stepped up and played in the second half,” said Academy coach Lee Bender, whose squad overcame 20 first-half turnovers. “(Salado) spreads that zone out to pressure on the perimeter, and in the second half we started finding those gaps.”
The Lady Eagles shot just 13-of-45 from the field and endured a 6½-minute scoreless stretch in the second half, when Chudej poured in 14 of her game-high 18 points and Robinson tallied 13 of her 15.
“I thought in the first (half), we had outplayed Academy in every facet of the game but we weren’t scoring,” said Salado coach Randy Henderson, whose squad led 15-11 at intermission. “That continued in the second half. We took some really good shots and just couldn’t get the ball in the basket.”
Hadley Joiner, who came in averaging 20 points per game, was the only Lady Eagle in double figures. She finished with 12 points on 6-of-20 shooting.
“The girls are disappointed, but there’s still a long way to go,” Henderson said. “We’ll come back Monday and get back to work.”
Added Bender: “This is big for us. We’re certainly glad to be where we are. But I told the girls to enjoy this for one night, then we have to start getting ready for our next one.”
Boys
The second game was a similar tale.
Salado (15-8, 2-1) controlled the action early but couldn’t hold onto a 27-21 halftime lead when Academy (15-4, 2-0) started hitting from the perimeter and in the paint during the final two quarters.
Forward Chase Reeders scored the first six points of the second half to pull the Bees even, and guard Kyler Kelton drained five of his seven 3-pointers after the break to help Academy lead by as many as 12 points.
“We made an adjustment at halftime and Tyler Moon did a great job of listening and then executing,” Bees coach Ed Glendening said. “He made the right passes and we were able to find the open man in the second half.”
After Kelton hit a trio of 3s in the first 3½ minutes of the fourth quarter, Salado tried to mount a rally.
Guard Nick Seawood, who was 11-of-22 from the floor and had a game-high 29 points - 18 in the first half - scored seven quick points to help the Eagles cut the gap to 50-47 with 45 seconds remaining before the Bees sealed it from the free-throw line.
“(Academy) made a good adjustment at halftime and we over-rotated a few times on (Kelton),” Salado coach Kenny Mann said. “Our guys played hard and executed well most of the night. But the few times we over-rotated, they made us pay.”
Kelton finished with 26 points and Reeders added 12 for Academy, which used its inside-outside presence to stay unbeaten in district.
“We’ve believed all year that we have an inside-outside game,” Glendening said. “If you come out, we’re going to pound you inside. If you cover us up inside, we’re going to kick it out and hit the 3.”
Added Mann: “We wanted to win, but this loss doesn’t kill us. I believe we are one of the top three teams in the district. Sometimes you’re going to lose to good teams at their place. Hopefully, we’ll get them when they come to our place."
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
