BRYAN — Basketball season in Elgin ended Tuesday night after the Lady Cats fell to the Huntsville Lady Hornets  69-44 at Bryan High School.
It was Elgin’s first playoff game in 17 years.
The Lady Cats played a tremendous first half, trailing a very talented and athletic Huntsville team 16-14 at the end of the first quarter.
Elgin held the Lady Hornets’ lead to eight points until halftime.
Jasmine Simmons, who leads the team with 10.3 points per game, carried the Lady Cats by scoring 11 of her 17 points in the first half.
“We were looking to shut them down on the offensive side then turn around and get quick layups,” head coach Jackie Bowman said. “And we started out doing just that.”
The second half exposed a lack of depth on the Elgin bench, where the Lady Cats were held to only 17 points after Bowman was forced to rotate out his starters in an effort to keep fresh legs on the court.
Simmons was held to only six points in the second half, unable to answer the 21 points Huntsville scored in the fourth quarter.
“We executed very well early on,” Bowman said. “but unfortunately we couldn’t get the ball in the hole late in the game.”
The Lady Cats did a good job at getting to the free throw line, sinking 8-of-12 free-throw attempts.
However they were outrebounded 23 to 16 in second half, giving a very good team too many second chances under the basket.
“[Huntsville] is a very good team,” Bowman said. “And we just got a ton of experience for our returning players who now know what its like to play in a playoff game.”

— Logan Herzog