Bulldawgs go 2-2, Lady Dawgs 1-3 in holiday tournaments

By TJ MAXWELL
Copperas Cove Leader-Press

The Copperas Cove Bulldawgs and Lady Dawgs basketball teams each got a hot start at their respective basketball tournaments before running into some tough opponents during their final tournament of the season.
The Bulldawgs outscored their opponents – Waco and Waco University – by a combined 47 points to earn a spot in the Gold Bracket quarterfinals of Waco Midway’s 60th annual MT Rice Basketball Tournament in Waco.
The Bulldawgs would find themselves in a rematch against District 12-6A rivals Temple. The Wildcats exacted a bit of revenge on the Bulldawgs with a 71-52 win to advance to the semifinals after Copperas Cove’s come-from-behind win to kick off district play prior to the Christmas break. 
Copperas Cove opened up pool play with a 72-45 win over the Waco Lions in the 11 a.m. game before besting University 74-54 in the 3:30 p.m. game last Monday to win Pool B and advance to the Gold Bracket where they would face Pool C winner Temple.
The Bulldawgs and Wildcats went shot for shot in the first quarter with Temple getting the slight 18-17 edge.
The Wildcats then began to make their presence felt, extending their lead to eight, 37-29 by the halftime break. 
Temple pushed their lead to 14 by the end of the third quarter for a 56-41 lead and continued to pull away in the fourth for a 71-52 final score. 
The Bulldawgs luck didn’t get much better in the fifth-place game against Mansfield Lake Ridge with a 79-51 loss to Lake Ridge.
A slow start by the Bulldawgs had them trailing 20-6 after eight minutes of play to which they wouldn’t be able to recover despite 13 points of junior Henry Sanchez’s 22 points coming in the fourth quarter.  
The Wildcats then fell to host Midway 59-42 before falling to A&M Consolidated 62-49 in the third-place game. 
Class 6A No. 14 Harker Heights rebounded from their 73-59 loss to Class 5A no. 11 and eventual tournament champion Mansfield Summit before rallying to win the Silver Bracket with wins over Grapevine (52-43), Converse Judson (59-54) and University (68-48) to claim to Silver Bracket title and move to 18-3 on the season. Another 12-6A team, Shoemaker, went 1-3 in the tournament.
The Bulldawgs (13-9 overall, 1-0 in District 12-6A) get back to district action at home tonight against the Ellison Eagles.
The Lady Dawgs opened pool play in the 32-team Division I field of the 20th annual Aggieland Invitational in Bryan/College Station with a 48-40 win over Dickinson High School in the morning game last Monday before falling to hosts A&M Consolidated 60-44 to close out Monday’s action.
The Lady Dawgs then fell to Fulshear 47-40 in the opening round of the Silver Bracket before closing out the tournament with a 35-28 loss to Lufkin.
The Lady Dawgs (14-13 overall, 1-3 in 12-6A) travel to Killeen to take on the Ellison Lady Eagles today with a 2 p.m. tipoff.