By Donnie A. Lucas

The Lady Lions won four out of six games at the Stephenville tournament last week, bringing home the second place trophy.

Albany traveled to Anson on Tuesday for a rematch against the Lady Tigers, losing 11-8 to post a record of 8-4 for the season.

The squad will be on the road both Friday and Saturday at the Clifton Tournament, playing three pool games on Friday alone. The opening round is set for 10:30 a.m. Friday against McGregor, with a second game at 3:00 p.m. versus Connally. The third round will be at 4:30 p.m. against Reicher.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Three varsity pitchers combined for a no-hitter in the season opener Friday as the Lion baseball team shut out Abilene Christian High School 10-0.

The boys defeated Eastland Tuesday 5-2, with results to be reported next week.

Albany’s varsity will play in the Hamlin tournament starting Thursday (today) against Colorado City starting at 3:00 p.m. The Lions will return to the tournament on Friday for a 1:00 p.m. game, followed by an 11:00 a.m. bout versus Merkel on Saturday.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Albany girls basketball players picked up several All-District selections for District 8-2A, including one superlative.

Senior Jaleigh Morales was named the  Offensive MVP by the district’s coaches. The standout racked up well over 1,000 points during her three years in Albany, receiving special recognition at the Lady Lions’ final home game.

The Lady Lions finished third in the district race with a 6-4 record, while Haskell (10-0) and Stamford (8-2) took first and second.

By Melinda L. Lucas

After taking a week off for spring break, members of the Albany High School tennis team will be back in action on Wednesday, March 18, hosting Breckenridge players  at the local courts starting at 2:00 p.m.

AHS athletes will then participate in the Seymour Invitational, with girls playing on March 25 and boys on March 30.

The district meet is set for the following week on April 6 and April 8 at Abilene’s Rose Park Tennis Center.

By Kathy Thomson

Moran High School’s boys and girls track teams competed in their first meet of the year last Thursday, Feb. 27, and will run in another meet this Friday before taking a week off for spring break.  

“The guys and girls competed in the Santa Anna Relays this past week and had a really good showing,” said coach John Hughes. “There is still some work to do, but we have a great starting point for the rest of the season.”

The boys finished 11th overall, with 21.5 points, while the girls took fourth place with a score of 59.

By Kathy Thomson

Moran High School tracksters opened the season in Santa Anna on Thursday, Feb. 27.

Results of the meet were not available at press time and will be reported next week.

The junior high teams will head to May for a meet on Tuesday, March 2.

Head track coach John Hughes is pleased with participation numbers.

“We have 22 kids out for high school track and 15 for junior high,” said Hughes. “With the large numbers, we should do well at the district meet.”

Basketball Finale

By Donnie A. Lucas

It was a true cat fight in Tuscola on Monday, with the Lions and the Christoval Cougars clawing their way to a 33-33 tie at the end of regulation time in the bi-district round of the Class 2A playoffs.

The Cougars came out on top, outscoring Albany 10-6 in overtime for a 43-39 win.

“I thought the guys did a great job of playing hard tonight,” coach Ryder Peacock said. “Defensively, we did exactly what we needed to do to keep the game around 40 points by not allowing Christoval to run transition and eliminate second-chance points.”

By Melinda L. Lucas

A few members of Albany High School’s tennis team saw their first action of the 2020 season on Feb. 20, traveling to Rose Park in Abilene to participate in the Hawley Invitational Tournament.

Tennis coach Sara Wilson said that the six local players who were able to compete last week did “surprisingly well considering it was their first tournament of the year” with limited practice time.

Albany hosted Throckmorton and Cisco on Wednesday. Results will be reported next week.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Advancing to the third round of the Class 2A playoffs for the first time in 25 years, the Lady Lions faced the familiar Stamford Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday, suffering a season-ending 49-39 loss.

Albany finished the season with a 22-11 overall record, including 6-4 in District 8-2A behind Stamford (8-2) in second and Haskell (10-0) in first. The Lady Lions lost both games to the Lady Bulldogs in district.

The Lady Bulldogs move on to the Regional Tournament that starts Friday in Levelland, facing Gruver in the first game.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Junior high track teams traveled to Knox City on Monday, earning a number of medals and ribbons.

The four teams will compete at Breckenridge on Tuesday, March 3, starting at 3:30 p.m.

Results for both girls teams were received, but records weren’t kept for the boys teams. Several events were run in heats with just heat results reported.

8th Grade Girls

2400 m run – 2. Maci Hatchett 11:06. 4. Callan Edgar 13:24.

100 m dash – 1. Robin Lucas 14.08. 1. Kiana Roberson 15.06. 2. Braylyn Abbate 15.02.