Varsity boys vs Venus – We were ahead 26-19 at halftime, but the Venus Bulldogs took a 4-point lead late in the 3rd quarter. Venus turned the ball over which led to a lay-up by Jasenio Anderson. Then Venus turned it over again with 10-seconds left and Oscar Gonzalez hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Italy a 1-point lead heading into the 4th quarter. Italy managed to play pretty well in the 4th quarter, outscoring Venus 25-15. It wasn’t easy, but Italy held strong at the end for a 66-55 win.

Head Coach Kyle Holley stated, “I thought our effort was really good last night. We made too many mental mistakes, but our effort was good. Hopefully this win will get us ready to play our first district game on Friday against Gateway.”

Varsity girls vs Waxahachie Advantage – The Lady Gladiators won last night as well in a game against Waxahachie Advantage in Waxahachie. The Lady Gladiators earned their 1st district win 68-27.

Head Coach Stacy McDonald said, “Our game went really well. The girls played hard, competed and finally executed. The effort has been there from the beginning. I feel my girls have always given me their best in terms of work ethic. But tonight they finally believed in themselves and our game plan enough to be disciplined to execute the game plan. We had expected a 2/3 zone so our
game plan was to go inside until they shut that down which opened up the
outside. It worked well.”

Jimesha Reed had 22-points (11/16 68%) 11 rebounds, 7 deflections, 3
steals.

Becca DeMoss had 24-points (9/23 40%) 3 rebounds, 7 deflections, 2 steals,
she took a charge EXTREMELY SELFLESS ACT!!!, 4 assist, no turnovers and
80% from the free throw line. Couldn’t have asked for a better
performance from a senior leader and our captain.

Megan Richards had 3-points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds she saw the floor
extremely well and played great team ball, showed lots of discipline in
following game plan, very proud of her to be that disciplined as a
freshman.

Shay Fleming had 4-points, 5 boards, she played inside and out with
extreme coachability.

Kyonne Birdsong had 8-points (57%) showed confidence in taking the ball
strong to the hole.

Marisela Perez had 2-points (100%) and played great defense.

Senior Blanca Figueroa had 3-points and 3 rebounds as well.

“I was extremely proud of our execution. They are breaking their habits
of listening to outside factors who do not understand our game plan and
are doing their very best to convert to our new program,” said Coach McDonald after the game.

Coach McDonald also added, "It has not been an easy road, our record doesn’t reflect our success that I feel we have had. These young ladies have completely changed their game, now we are in the process of changing their mindset about believing in themselves and helping them understand that we will win here in Italy. We have hit some brick walls…Randy Pausch once said, “brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” These ladies really want to make the playoffs and I believe and they believe that we can do it. We really need everyone’s support right now."

Senior Becca DeMoss commented on the game by saying, “It’s always good getting a win in district. We played well as a team and that’s encouraging. Everybody was having fun but now we’ll focus on Dallas Gateway.”

The JV/V games on Friday will all be played at Cedar Valley College in Lancaster. Gateway’s gym is still under construction. The JV girls start at 4:00 p.m..

Directions to the Cedar Valley College gym in Lancaster:

1. Take a right on Pleasant Run Road.
2. Go about 3 miles to N. Dallas Avenue. It will be a major red light.
3. Turn left on N. Dallas and go about 2 miles, college is on the right.
4. Take the 2nd entrance to the college, that will lead you to the gym.