Logan girls cruise

GRADY - The state-ranked Logan girls basketball team jumped to a 16-point lead early and cruised to a 70-33 district victory Thursday over a rebuilding Grady/San Jon/House team.

Harlie Roach's 16 points led the Lady Longhorns' balanced attack, along with Kesleah Shields' 14 and Jordan Hines' 10.

Timia Northcutt's 11 points led the Lady Bronchos.

The game featured teams in transition - one dealing with a season-ending injury to a star player and one trying to advance to a more competitive level.

Logan remains ranked No. 1 in Class 1A by MaxPreps.com despite a loss Jan. 24 to district foe Melrose. During that game, 5-foot-11 junior power forward Karli Webb tore the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in her knee. Logan lost its subsequent game to non-district foe Clayton and still is adjusting, coach Glynna Strand said.

"We're trying to refigure what we're doing after losing Karli," she said. "We're not where we want to be yet, but we're hoping by March, we'll be there. We did some good things tonight; we've got to have a little more ball control."

Strand said her team now has to rely more on the 5-foot-10 Roach - a potent 3-point shooter - for inside scoring. She said the team also has to make other adjustments.

"Kassi Foote has always played a lot; she just hadn't started. Now she's starting," Stand said. "And I'm going to have to rely more on my younger girls - Karlee Cantrell, Kambry Burns, Kyndall Ragland. They're playing pretty well right now, and they're team players. I think we're going to be able to compensate."

Strand said Logan expects Webb to be recovered from her Feb. 14 knee surgery by August - in time for volleyball season. Webb is a star attacker of the defending Class 1A state champions.

"Harlie Roach blew hers out even worse last year, and she was back in five months," Strand said. "It depends on how hard you rehab. Harlie rehabbed like crazy. Karli can come back a little sooner if she does the same thing."

Grady/San Jon/House is in the midst of its first season in a sports cooperative with those school districts.

"I think we're meshing pretty well," Lady Bronchos coach Rebecca Burns said of her Grady and San Jon players (no one from House went out for girls basketball). "I think what we're dealing with now is we don't have any solid experience on varsity, and that's the kinks we're working on now. These guys are working really hard; I see it, but it hasn't produced in the win column yet."

The Lady Bronchos fell to 3-15, 1-2 in the district.

The Lady Longhorns scored the first eight points and led 20-4 in the first quarter.

"We have trouble starting quick," Burns said. "Logan got a quicker start on us, and their press kinda mixed us up and we couldn't handle the ball at the beginning of the game. We missed a ton of layups and helped them build a solid lead."

Grady/San Jon/House settled down somewhat after that, staying within 15 points for much of the second and third quarters. But Logan scored 19 unanswered points late to put the game out of reach.

Logan 52, Fort Sumner 49

Roach and Hines each scored 19 points to lead the Lady Longhorns to an important 52-49 district victory over host Fort Sumner.

"Harlie took over the game," Strand said when asked about the key to the win.

Logan improved to 17-4 overall and 3-1 in district play.

The Vixens fell to 10-10, 2-2 in the district.

Melrose 55, Grady/San Jon/House 21

The host Lady Buffaloes overwhelmed the Lady Bronchos 55-21 during a district game Jan. 29.

Melrose improved to 13-5 and 3-0 in district play.