Gans starts with a win, teams working to get better

The Gans basketball season started a little earlier than most schools, with mixed results against Cameron on Nov. 17. The boys won their season opener, while the girls started strong but fell behind as the game went along.

CAMERON GIRLS 37, GANS 32

The Lady Grizzlies got off to a good start against Cameron, leading 16-2 after the first quarter only to slow down and get cold as the game went on.

Gans head coach Laney James saw the Yellow Jackets begin to get hot during the second stanza and especially in the second half, which countered their early offensive display.

The Gans girls were on fire at the beginning, but cooled more and more until “we weren’t getting the shots that we were supposed to get from plays we worked on in practice,” James remembers. “We were having trouble getting the shots, but they starting getting hot. By that time, we were getting into foul trouble, so I had to sit a few starters down and sub in some players that did what I asked them to, but that changes the whole dynamic and puts you in a bind.”

The leading scorer for Gans was Brianna Burris with 10 points, followed by Lalya Manuel with eight, Melania Paniagua six, Emily Phillips four and K’Cee Osburn and Hailey Pierson with two points apiece.

GANS BOYS 57, CAMERON 43

Gans has a new head coach for the boys team this year, and with a new person at the helm, there’s going to be natural growing pains that may take a little while to work out.

Football coach Brian Morton is taking the boys basketball team this season, and Morton and his charges are still getting used to each other and Morton’s way of doing things.

Even though the boys won, there were still things that weren’t right, which isn’t a surprise this early in the season. But starting the season with a win is always a confidence booster and is something to build on as the season progresses.

OKAY GIRLS 54, GANS 27

The Lady Grizzlies followed their first game with a less-than-stellar performance on Monday, but they kept working the offense and defense that they’d planned in training and didn’t give up.

James was happy with the effort and the improvements she saw from her young team on their fundaments and skills involved. The score doesn’t always tell the whole story.

“Against Cameron, Melania Paniagua was struggling to put some shots up under that goal, but in the Okay game, she improved tremendously and she was our top scorer. She made free throws, she blocked shots like she was supposed to and she had 11 points with most of them in the second quarter.”

Paniagua led the way with 11 points, followed by Emily Phillips with eight, Brianna Burris with five and Destiny Phillips with three.