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The Kennedale Wildcats swept the district in first round action going 6-0 but in the second round that started this week they are 1-1 after a win over Mineral Wells on Tuesday followed by a upset by Castleberry last night. {{more: continue …}}
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After the loss to Castleberry, Kennedale falls to 7-1 in District 7-4A while Castleberry improved their record to 6-2, tied with Benbrook in second place. (Benbrook defeated Springtown 104-73 last night). Lake Worth is in 4th place at 4-3 followed by Mineral Wells at 2-5, Springtown 1-6 and Diamond Hill-Jarvis 0-7.
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Kennedale had won the earlier matchup with Castleberry 62-42. The Lions two district losses have come at the hands of Kennedale and Benbrook.
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Game Updates:
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Friday, Jan 26 – Castleberry (L) 80-72?
- Castleberry did what has not been done in almost two years by a district team. The Lions defeated Kennedale on their home court 80-72. The last time Kennedale lost a district game was two season ago when the Cats lost a game against Midlothian Heritage.
- The Lions took a 2 point lead in the 1st quarter 17-15 and added to their lead in the 2nd by? padding it by 3 to take a 41 -36 lead into the half. Kennedale could not cut into the lead in the 3rd and Castleberry remained ahead with a score 53-48. There were a flurry of points by both sides in the 4th totaling 51 points but not in the Wildcats favor as Lions tacked on the loss winning by 8.
- It was the hot shooting of Luis Hernandez for Castleberry that controlled the game. Hernandez scored over half of the Lions total points at 42 points. His partner in the takedown was Edgar Espitia who added another 26 points Castleberry hit 71% of their 3 point attempts while hitting 64% from the floor.?
- Kennedale players scoring were Jaden Smith 21, Bryce Hackett 18, Uniikye Washington 12, Scott Whorley 10, Blake Taylor 8 and Jamal Downes 3.
- Kennedale recorded
34 rebounds to 15 for Castleberry; 14 assist to 0; steals 9-0; blocks 0 to 4;
field goals 50% to 64%; 3 point shooting 43% to 71%; and, free throws 53% to
73%.
- The loss by Kennedale sets up a return match against 2nd place Benbrook to end the regular season on February 13. The game will be played at Benbrook.
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Tuesday, Jan 23 Mineral Wells (W) 64-59?
- It was back in December that Mineral Wells Rams came calling and Kennedale sent the Rams packing with big 67-43 win.
- Mineral Wells was hoping to return the favor and made a game of it all the way through. It was the play of Wildcat Uniikye Washington who had a fantastic 4th scoring 16 of his 26 game points and all but 5 points of the total points scored by the Cats in the 4th, that secured the win for the Kennedale who moved to 7-0 in district play.
- Kennedale held a 3 point advantage at 15-12 after Q1 helped by a 9-0. The Rams hung in there in the 2nd and were down only 5 at the half to the heavily favored Wildcat team at 31-26.
- The Rams closed the five point Wildcat lead and tied the game at the end of quarter at 43. Then it was the Uniikye Washington prime time show. Washington outscored the entire Mineral Wells team in the 4th with his 16 points to their 14. With another 2 points by Bryce Hackett and another 3 by Jaden Smith, Kennedale vaulted to the win 64-59.?
- Point leaders for Kennedale included Washington 26, Jaden Smith 18, Bryce Hackett 8, Jamal Downes 4, Scott Whorley 4, Blake Taylor 2 and Nathan Otts 2.?
- The Cats ended up
with 34 rebounds to 26; Assist 8 to 0; Steals 12 to 1; Blocks 1 to 5; shooting
42% to 45%; 3 points percentage 0% to 32% and Free Throws 79% to 46%.?
Friday, Jan 19 -Benbrook (W) 77-69
- Kennedale?s Uniikye Washington (Sr) was the player of the night hitting the nets enough to rack up 24 points to lead all scorers for the game.
- The Wildcats needed the win to claim an undisputed first place in District 7-4A after the first round of action. Benbrook had one blemish on its district record, a 71-63 loss to Lake Worth in the first district game of the season.?
- Kennedale took the lead in the first quarter by 20-16 and piled it on in the 2nd, outscoring the Bobcats 23-13 to take a 43-29 lead in to halftime.?
- Benbrook did try to hack into the 13 point lead but not enough to make a difference and at the end of the third it was 59-48. In the fourth, the Wildcats put the lid on the game with a final score of 77-69.?
- For the game for Kennedale, Washington finished with 24 followed by Jaden Smith (Jr) 20, Bryce Hackett (Sr) 15, Scott Whorley (So)/ 8, Blake Taylor 7, Nathan Otts (Sr) 3 and Trey Poe (Jr).?
- Kennedale had 40 rebounds to 20 for Benbrook; 16 asists to 0; 7 steals to 7; 2
blocks to 0; shooting 60% to 42%; 3 point 30% to 28%; and, free throws 55% to
67%.
