MIDLAND The Permian girls basketball team finally got the bounces to go its way Friday, defeating Midland High 49-42 for the Lady Panthers’ first District 2-6A victory as the district schedule hit the midway point.
Ashton Garner scored a game-high 16 points and Daysia Christian scored all of her 11 points in the fourth quarter as Permian (11-16 overall, 1-4 district) overcame a seven-point deficit.
“We’re tired of losing. We just came to battle, that’s it,” Permian coach Angela Braziel-Smith. “We came to battle, we came to fight and we were not going to leave here until we came up with a win. We battled.
“It was fun. It was intense. We’re going to keep fighting.”
Taysha Rushton, who fouled out in the final minute, scored 14 points to lead Midland High (16-12, 2-3), while Teleshia Defell added 11 points.
Permian had three players finish in double figures as Reyna Rayos scored 10 points, hitting both of the Lady Panthers’ 3-pointers.
Permian suffered a blow when senior post Alena Madero suffered a back strain midway through the third quarter. Madero did not return, finishing with six points. Midland High scored the next seven points, taking its biggest lead at 33-26 on a basket by Za’riyah Gilmore with 1:44 left in the period.
The Lady Panthers responded with a 7-0 run of their own to tie it at 33 early in the fourth quarter, then used an 11-0 run to turn a three-point deficit into their biggest lead of the night at 44-36 with 3:26 to go.
Garner hit the basket that put Permian ahead to stay at 37-36 with 4:37 remaining, then Christian scored the next seven points to cap the run.
“For me, personally, the first half was not my half,” Christian said. “I can admit that I had a little bit of an attitude, but I had to pull it together for my team. We just worked together to finish it off.”
Midland High hit three consecutive baskets to cut Permian’s lead to two with less than two minutes to play, but Christian scored with 1:37 left and Rayos converted a one-and-one with 49 seconds to go to push the lead back to six.
Friday’s victory moved the Lady Panthers to within a game of a three-way tie for third place (Odessa High, Midland High and Midland Lee) and a shot at a playoff berth.
Permian opens the second half of the 2-6A schedule at Midland Lee on Tuesday, while Midland High visits district co-leader Amarillo Tasco
