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Saturday, February 24, 2001
Late shot dooms Ray girls

By Matt Young
Caller-Times
SAN ANTONIO - Marka Pinkert hit a turnaround five-foot jumper with 12 seconds remaining to lift Buda Hays past Ray 43-42 in the Region IV-5A semifinals Friday at the University of Texas-San Antonio Convocation Center.
   Pinkert's game-winner came after Ray's Jennifer Head sank two free throws that gave Ray a 42-41 lead with 32 seconds left. After Head's free throws, Ray put its full-court pressure on Hays, but the Rebels beat it and got the ball downcourt to Pinkert in the post. The 5-foot-11 Pinkert, mismatched in the paint with the 5-6 Becky Mata guarding her, took one dribble, spun left and banked home the game-winner.
   Ray inbounded the ball, dribbled to midcourt and called timeout to set up its last play. Mata tried to inbound the ball to Head on the baseline, but Head and Hays' Alisha Schuman collided going for the ball. The official ruled the ball went out of bounds off Head, giving Hays possession and the game.
   Hays (28-7) advances to the region finals where it will play ???Carroll-San Antonio Taft????? at noon today at UTSA.
   "Marka Pinkert is one of our better shooters in the post, so if we got a mismatch in the post off their press, we knew we wanted to get the ball to her," Hays coach Donny McDonald said. "We had trouble with Ray's press for most of the game, but when we beat it, we got some good looks and that's what happened on that final play."
   Ray's press was a difference-maker for most of the game, but the Texans were without one of their main difference-makers down the stretch. Ray guard Amber Davis, who scored a team-high 11 points, landed hard on her right knee after a rebound with 4:22 left in the game and never returned.
   "I went up for the rebound, and I got undercut; the doctors say I may have sprained my ACL," Davis said. "My knee hurt, but the worst thing was sitting their on the bench and having to watch the rest of the game without being able to go in. That was tough. I think I could have made a difference somehow, either on offense or defense."
   Ray trailed by two when Davis went down and scored just five points after her injury. Hays took a four-point lead - its biggest lead of the game - with 1:48 left, before Davis' replacement Rhonda Hosey hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one with 1:33 left. Ray took the lead on Head's free throws, before Pinkert sank Ray with her turnaround jumper.
   "I can't say that Amber's injury made a difference, because our other players stepped up after she went out," Ray coach Dave Dunlap said. "Amber's a great player for us, but we fought back and took the lead with 30-something seconds left, but we just couldn't finish it. We had our chances, but we came up a point short."
   Ray led for most of the second half, leading by as much as five midway through the third quarter. Hays didn't take its first lead of the second half until there was 5:03 left in the game.
   After the game, many Texans were already pointing to next year. Of the six players who scored for Ray, only one was a senior and four were sophomores.
   "No one thought we could get this far, because we're so young, but I think we proved something this year," said Davis, a junior. "We're almost all coming back, and we'll be coming back even stronger. We know we can get back here again next year."

   Ray 16 6 12 8-42
   Buda Hays 12 9 12 10-43
   Ray - Amber Davis 11, Becky Mata 7, Jennifer Head 7, Brittany Fowler 6, Lauren Perry 6, Rhonda Hosey 5.
   Buda Hays - Marka Pinkert 16, Helen Breyfogle 6, Kourtney Sides 5, Melissa Dahlstrom 4, Lauren Guerrero 4, Jennifer Capps 3, Emily Klaerner 3, Cheyenne Webster 2. 3-point goals - Ray, Becky Mata, Jennifer Head, Rhonda Hosey; Buda Hays, Kourtney Sides, Emily Klaerner.


Staff writer Matt Young can be reached at 886-3702 or by e-mail at youngm@caller.com

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