Lady Gladiators stay warm during summer league play
Contact sport — Maypearl jogged on to the court but they limped back to the bench. The panthers won the war 31-29, but they lost the battles and had to lick their wounds after the game against the Lady Gladiators. (Barry Byers)
After trailing the whole way, the 1A Italy Lady Gladiators battled back to take a 29-27 lead with 3:35 remaining in a physical confrontation with the 2A Maypearl Lady Panthers.
To give an idea of just how intense this contest was, throughout the game, every missed shot turned into a scrum for the rebound with neither side wanting to lose.
After Freshman Alyssa “The Enforcer” Richards entangled with a Lady Panther for a loose ball, causing the Maypearl player to grab her gut and grunt in agony, another Maypearl player limped to the bench at the next time out.
Earlier in 1st half, Italy’s Jimesha Reed took an illegal elbow across her forehead that she didn’t even flinch at. However, late in the game, Reed was forced to the bench to cool down after a scramble for the ball ended with Reed slinging a Lady Panther hard to the floor.
Maypearl managed the last 4-points to win the war 31-29, but they had lost many of the battles along the way.
In fact, Italy was so aggressive, it’s hard to say just how Maypearl won. Their only edge seemed to be with their long range shooting and some open layups, in the 1st half, off of a pre-designed pick play.
The majority of Italy’s points came in the paint as guards Chante Birdsong and Jameka Copeland drove the lane for several scores. All in all, the Lady Gladiators will have learned many valuable lessons from this one which will only make them even stronger.
Catch the Lady Gladiators in action, you won’t be disappointed.