Late run lifts Round Rock past Lady Roos Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 24 2009 05:06 AM By Nick Talbot
Killeen Daily Herald

Down the stretch, the Killeen Lady Roos could not put away the win.

After going on a 10-2 run to take an eight-point lead with less than four minutes remaining, Killeen fell apart.

They could not get senior Jasmine Baugus the basketball and could not keep the Round Rock Lady Dragons off the glass.

As a result, the Lady Dragons went on a 14-2 run to defeat Killeen 53-39.

"They made those two threes at the end and the kids started getting frantic," said Killeen coach Latisha Williams. "We were like 'Oh, we are up. Let's not lose it,' instead of keeping pushing (it)."

Round Rock's full-court press snuffed out the Lady Roos' (2-6) attack for much of the first half, forcing them into turnover after turnover.

Even that was not the biggest problem, though. Round Rock's posts, Simone Deloach and Annie Russian, controlled the boards with ease and Round Rock outrebounded the Roos 32-17 in the first half.

"It killed us in the first half, they had 13 or 14 (offensive rebounds) ... and we had like four," Williams said. "... In the first half we really died. Yeah, they came back and won, but it was the first half where they really hurt us. Even at the end, though, they got a couple of rebounds that really hurt us."

Jasmine Baugus led the Roos with a double-double, scoring 22 points and pulling down 11 rebounds.

Traecia Nichols also had 11 rebounds for Killeen.

"It would be nice to find another (scoring) option," Williams said. "We have had other options ... but we did not even have anyone else in double figures."

That was exactly Round Rock's coach Anthony Robinson's plan.

"We wanted to make her pass it," Robinson said. "We wanted to deny her getting the ball back if she passed it."

Round Rock led for much of the first half, but never by much. The Dragons were up 11-7 after the first quarter and took a slim 23-21 lead into halftime.

In the third quarter, the Roos made their move.

Baugus had nine points, including a crucial three-point play that put Killeen up 32-29.

The momentum shift peaked for the Roos in the fourth after sophomore Mariah Shaw and freshman Jasmine Goodwine got putbacks to spark the 10-2 run.

The lead just did not last.

Robinson called two timeouts in a matter of a minute and regrouped his team.

"We felt we could work pretty much what we wanted too, but we missed a couple of key back door cuts and we had to reevaluate," Robinson said. "Either they are stopping the back-door cuts or we hit the one-on-one on the post. So, we hit the one-on-one."

It was the kick-outs from those matchups that really, hurt the Roos, though. Twice in the final two minutes, the ball went inside and came back out for an open 3-pointer.

Ladaziye Martin hit the first and Geneva Anderson, who led Round Rock with 10 points, hit the second and tied the game at 49.

Killeen immediately turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play and the Dragons hit 4 of 6 from the line to seal the victory.

"There are too many mistakes going on," Williams said. "I can deal with a low scoring game, but we had too many turnovers... I am not griping at my girls for not playing hard. We are, but we are young and we turn the ball over and we don't block out."

Contact Nick Talbot at ntalbot@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7569.