Sports

CARDS FOLLOW 3-0 WIN WITH 0-2 DEFEAT

There’s no such thing as easy when it comes to winning a title race in sports. The Cards’ varsity basketball team is finding that out for themselves this season as one of the district’s top teams. After a dominating run to begin district play, they have started to get every team’s best shot as they recently completed a stretch of five straight games that finished with a single-possession final margin. Results have varied for the Cards as they went 3-2 during that stretch, sometimes showing great composure and hitting huge shots, other times just missing on a few key plays late. While the losses brought Columbus to second place behind Edna, the Cards actually started their tight, five-game stretch with a close win against the Cowboys. Columbus will have to find a win against Palacios Tuesday night, but if they complete that task, they set themselves up for a rematch on Edna’s home floor on Friday that will likely decide which of these two teams will claim the district title.

The Columbus Lady Cards’ basketball team is looking to wrap up their third-straight district title after securing a few more blowout victories in the late part of the season. The job is just about done as even if Columbus falls to Palacios Tuesday night in the final game of the season, they will still have the top district record. At this point the odds would likely be in Columbus’ favor as their offensive and defensive attacks are meshing together at the perfect time. The Lady Cards are hoping their recent success translates into the postseason as they aspire to have an improved playoff run after last year’s first-round departure.

This season has been one focused on development for the Lady Raiders as they hope to build a winning program over time. While their development did not culminate into winning for Rice, they have allowed some of their young players to build confidence being on the court as the senior-less team battled through a strong district. Tatianna Mills is an upperclassman who seemed to have gotten stronger offensively as the season progressed. She has shown much improved output in their most recent games, scoring at least 15 points in each of their losses last week. The Lady Raiders will not have any postseason play to look forward to after their game against Industrial on Tuesday night, but they will be looking forward to trying to grow the program in future seasons.

LADY RAIDERS LOSE 10-0 TO BAY CITY

Whi le the Rice Raiders’ playoff hopes have been dashed for some time, their hopes to finish as high in the standings as possible took a hit after taking a 66-46 defeat to the district- leading Edna Cowboys on Friday night.

The Raiders entered Friday’s home game against Bay City following a tough, 3-0 loss to Columbus on Monday. Rice had slightly more success on offense against Bay City as they avoided a shutout loss. However, their opponent’s offense reached another level as they sent the Raiders to the 7-1 defeat.

The Weimar varsity lady hoops team entered the last few games of the season with a goal of finishing as high as possible in the district standings. With six district losses, they had already given up their claim on the district title before entering play last week. However, they got a big win against the team ahead of them in the standings during their two games played as they try to reach one of the district’s top spots and qualify for the postseason.

The last week for the Weimar varsity boys’ basketball team came with some tight competition as the Wildcats finish off the final games of their season. The Wildcats played in back-to-back close games that each had a final margin of three or less on the scoreboard. Unfortunately for Weimar despite their solid efforts, they could not claim a win in either game as they fell by one possession to each opponent. The Wildcats left the week with just a 5-point combined margin of defeat.

LADY CARDS SOCCER TAKES 1-0 EL CAMPO LOSS AFTER RICE WIN

The Cards’ swim team will continue their season at the Feb. 9 UIL State Meet prelims in San Antonio after strong outings at the Regional meet. The relay team of Rayce Johnson, Cade Neumann, Justin Strauss and Colby Williams qualified for state in the 200-yard (fifth place) and 400-yard freestyle relay (eighth place), and also in the 200-yard medley (sixth place). Rayce also qualified in the 50-yard freestyle with a seventh-place finish. Pictured from left to right is Justin Strauss, Colby Williams, Rayce Johnson, Cade Neumann and Coach Paula Swindle.

The Cards have not been able to avoid close games in recent weeks as last week they completed their third game in a row with a one possession margin of victory, and their second game in a row that reached an overtime period. Columbus has found a way to pick up wins in each of those games including against Yoakum at home Tuesday night. The close games continued to end the week as the Cards faced last year’s district winners in a game that came down to the wire and tightened the district title race.

Both the girls’ and boys’ golf teams for Columbus had to deal with some chilly conditions in their respective tournaments last week. The Cards took on the Rattler Invitational Tournament on Monday, Jan. 23 and the Lady Cards followed with a Wednesday trip to Navasota. Despite the cold temperatures, both teams came away with strong results as they combined for several sub-100 scores. Their performances were reflected in the overall team standings as well. The Lady Cards finished in second place as a team while the Cards finished in the top half of the overall standings.

Sophomore Carson Wray opened the golf season with a strong performance during the fall.

BIG GAMES HIGHLIGHT LADY CARDS WEEK

The Lady Cards had a strong opening to their week of competition last week. They came out on fire with an onslaught of goals in a win to begin the week. However, their fortunes changed in their second game of the week when they played a tight game at home over the weekend and eventually finished regulation with a tie on the scoreboard. After a tight penalty shootout, the Lady Cards suffered the defeat as they could not slot home the shot to keep the shootout going.

The Rice Raiders’ basketball team gave themselves opportunities to win in each of their games last week against district opponents. The Raiders were able to keep up with the scoring efforts of each team as they lost both games by less than six points. However, their defense halted any chance they had of climbing over the hump to secure victory in either game.

The Rice Lady Raiders’ varsity basketball team has been searching for ways to improve all season. While their improvements have not been consistent enough to translate into wins recently, they do show glimpses of effective play through stretches. Last week, they showed some of their inconsistency as they were undermined by a defense that allowed at least 59 points in both games. They also struggled offensively with just one double-digit scoring quarter in the week as they took back-to-back district defeats.

The Weimar boys’ hoops team has had some struggles on the defensive end in their most recent games. Last week, their opponents scored a combined 138 points in two games as Weimar failed to slow down those respective offenses. Weimar had difficulties with their own offensive attack as well, and they struggled through a pair of blowout losses against district opponents.

The most recent edition of this year’s Rice-hosted Swamp Strength series featured appearances by every school in the district. Each school had some solid performances as well as Columbus, Rice and Weimar all had lifters finish in the top three of their respective weight classes.