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NAVASOTA — The Weimar Ladycats’ varsity basketbal l team qual ified for the playoffs after finishing as one of the top teams in the district. Throughout the season, they depended on their ability to defend the ball and slow down opposing offenses. However, after some low moments and slip ups in the regular season, Weimar set themselves up for a relatively difficult matchup in the first round of the playoffs against the Hearne Lady Eagles, the team that removed Weimar from the postseason last year in the third round. The Ladycats usually potent defense could not find enough effectiveness in stopping Hearne’s attack, and Weimar departed the playoffs in the first round after suffering a 55-37 defeat Monday, Feb.13.
The Ladycats had a slow start to this game on both sides of the ball, making it difficult for them to make inroads on the lead later in the game when they picked up their production. They scored eight points in the first period and just five points in the second as they had difficulties creating easy looks as well as converting on shot attempts. Conversely, Hearne’s offense hummed along quite well, creating 19 points of offense in the first quarter and 15 in the second. Weimar went into halftime with a 34-13 deficit on the scoreboard.
The second half came with slightly better fortunes for the Ladycats. They held Hearne to 12 points or less in each of the second half periods. Weimar’s struggles on offense persisted into the second half as their ninepoint third quarter was not enough to surpass Hearne’s double-digit scoring effort. The Ladycats had their only double-digit scoring period of the game in the fourth quarter with 11 points to end the game. However, they were still outscored 12-11 in that period as the Lady Eagles finished a wire-to-wire victory.
Senior Kim Hinze took the lead to finish off her Ladycat basketball career. She was the only Ladycat to score into double digits with 13 points to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. Izzy Reeves was the next leading scorer with seven points, and Chandley Tolbert, Paige Pavlu and Madison Luckey combined for 11 points as well.
The trio of departing seniors will be leaving and taking lots of production for Weimar with them. Paige Pavlu, Kim Hinze and Neorri Johnson were key pieces of this year’s team that will be graduating in the spring with Pavlu and Hinze often finishing as the top players in matchups. Pavlu had the team-high season totals for points and rebounds with 449 total points and 291 total rebounds. Hinze finished with the second-highest total for points on the team with 169 scored throughout the season, but Hinze also picked up over 100 assists and 100 steals as she led the team in those categories all season.
