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Purcell Basketball

Dragons take two at PV

Purcell splits games with Bridge Creek with girls winning

John D. Montgomery
Posted 1/23/25

Purcell turned in a double dip of commanding court victories on the road at Pauls Valley January 14 with the boys topping the Panthers, 52-35 and the girls overwhelming the Valley, 76-32.

Lohn …

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Purcell Basketball

Dragons take two at PV

Purcell splits games with Bridge Creek with girls winning

Posted

Purcell turned in a double dip of commanding court victories on the road at Pauls Valley January 14 with the boys topping the Panthers, 52-35 and the girls overwhelming the Valley, 76-32.

Lohn called the Dragons win a “tale of two halves”.

“Pauls Valley gave us all we wanted in the first half,” Lohn admitted. “They have good size at guard and I thought they outworked us too many times early. We also struggled finding our rhythm offensively.”

But, led by Brayden Tharp’s game-high 16 points and Jaime Resendiz taking his lunch pail to work inside with 11, the Dragons prevailed, out-scoring the hosts 34-15 in the second half.

Eight of Resendiz’s 11 points came in the fourth period when Purcell out-scored the Panthers 18-7. Tharp saved his best for last, also, pouring in nine of his 16 in the final quarter.

“In the second half we settled in and began to wear them down,” the coach said.

“Offensively, guys were sharing the ball and finding each other in advantageous spots. I really liked how we came together. We also did a better job defensively, turning defense into offense,” Lohn said.

“That’s Purcell Basketball and the guys are buying into it,” he said.

In the girls game Pauls Valley needed to break out the ponchos and umbrellas because it rained three-pointers on them, especially in the second half when the Dragons drained nine of their 10 total treys.

Kenna Esparza dropped five bombs on the Panthers, four coming in the second half leading to her game-high 19 points.

Haven Buchanan nailed a trio of treys while Lili Del Toro and Avery Hines each made one from downtown.

Fortunately for Pauls Valley, the Dragons struggled at the charity stripe knocking down only 39 percent of the free throws or things could have been worse for them.

Del Toro finished with a baker’s dozen while Haven Buchanan finished in double digits with 11.

The game was a horse race at the end of the first half with the Dragons leading by just a bucket at 21-19.

However, the second half was a sharp-shooting dream for the Dragons who out-scored the Panthers, 55-13.

It wasn’t all three pointers and offense, either. Purcell tightened the screws on defense and held Pauls Valley to nary a fourth quarter point.

Zilch, zero, nada.

Meanwhile, Purcell poured in 24 points of their own in the period.

“The girls played really well,” head coach Toney Cooper said.

“It was a great environment we walked into at Pauls Valley,” the coach continued. “They started defensively in zone and it slowed us down early. I was pleased with how the girls handled it. We rushed a few of our shots, but played well defensively forcing them into a lot of turnovers early.

“Still though, game was a lot closer than I would have liked at the half.”

Purcell led 21-19 at the half.

“The second half was a different story. Our kids played lights out basketball on both ends. Putting up 31 points in the third and holding them scoreless in the fourth. Hadleigh Harp forced them into so many turnovers with her defense. It was a total team win,” Cooper said.

Esparza played the same song second verse against Bridge Creek, once again pouring in 19 points and knocking down four from beyond the arc, leading Purcell to a 60-18 shellacking of Bridge Creek.

“Homecoming game is always challenging due to the change in schedule to accommodate the festivities that come with it,” Cooper said.

“Our goal was to carry the defensive momentum from our PV game into this one. We kept them in single digits scoring all four quarters and nearly had back to back fourth quarter shutouts only giving up two in that quarter.

“Offensively we continued to start sluggish but pulled away in the second half again. Kenna Esparza was our bright spot offensively again, posting her second straight game of 19,” the coach said.

“Fellow senior Hanna Whitaker followed with eight. Lili Del Toro continued her good play with seven to go with several steals and even a few boards.

“Tinley Winters chipped in five and was our leading rebounder. Great night for our Dragons as our own Haven Buchanan was crowned 2025 HOCO Queen,” Cooper concluded.

The Dragons were snake bit in the paint missing layup after layup in a 42-40 loss to the Bobcats.

Tharp and Jaime Resendiz led the Dragons with 13 points apiece.

“It was tough to lose Kyler (Rangel) to injury 21 seconds in but guys stepped up,” Lohn said.

“I was really pleased with our defense. Our play without the ball was the sole reason we had an opportunity to win late.’

The Dragons missed a desperation three at the buzzer that would have won the game.

“Bridge Creek scored 95 points the night before in a home game so they are capable of putting points on the board,” Lohn continued.

“We were very locked in on that end. However our rebounding and inability to score consistently crippled our efforts to make a run.

“Any team would be hard pressed to be in a game on 13-56 shooting. We had some great looks. It just wasn’t our night.”

Lohn was quick to give credit to Bridge Creek “because they played an equal role in our struggles on that end.”

“It was a tough conversation in the locker room after the game but we will bounce back. These kids are so dang resilient and have continued to show a lot of fight. We’ve just got to put the ball in the hole,” he concluded.

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