Last night, we kicked off our 11th season of the best of East Texas High School Basketball in Grand Saline as the Lady Indians and the Indians played host to the Quitman Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs.  In game one, it was a match-up of two evenly matched teams.  The Lady Indians were looking to even their district record at 2-2 and in the beginning, it looked as if they might have a chance to do that.  In the first quarter, The Lady Indians trailed after 8 minutes, 8-7.  In the second quarter, Diana Wilt led the Lady Indians with 9 points as the Grand Saline Lady Indians led at the half, 22-21.  In the second half, both teams took turns holding one to two point leads as the game seesawed back and fourth.  In the fourth quarter, Quitman's Erin Cole and Deshantae McNeal took control of the game.  Cole scored 6 of her 11 points in the final 8 minutes, and McNeal had 8 of her team high 16 points in the final quarter.  Grand Saline's Diana Wilt finished with a game high 20 points.  In the end, the Lady Bulldogs came out on top of the Lady Indians, 45-42.  With the win, The Quitman Lady Bulldogs improve their record to 7-5, 2-2.  The Grand Saline Lady Indians fall to 6-10, 1-3.  Up next, the Quitman Lady Bulldogs will play host to the Como-Pickton Lady Eagles on Friday, January 9.  The Grand Saline Lady Indians will travel to take on Lone Oak this Friday night,

The Grand Saline Indians and the Quitman Bulldogs were also on the schedule last night.  Both teams looking for their first district win of the young season.  It was appearant early on that the game was going to be dominated by the tandem of Devontae McNeal and Courtney Hunter.  Both McNeal and Hunter made a living on the offensive and defensive glass as the two outrebounded the Grand Saline indians last night.  McNeal scored 16 of his game high 28 points in the first in the first 16 minutes of the game.  Hunter finished the game with 12 points, 7 of those coming in the fourth quarter.  Quitman's Josh Weems didn't shoot the ball alot last night, but when he did he made it count.  Weems went 3 for 4 from behind the three point line as he finished with 11 points.  Grand Saline got most of their points last night by starting point guard, Sam Joyce who finished with a team high 14 points.  Taylor Phelps, 13 points and Steven Smalley, 11 points were the only other Indians who scored in double figures last night.  In the end, Quitman got their first win of the district season, 63-49.  WIth the loss, Grand Saline falls to 0-2 in district play.

Not only did we have two great high school basketball games last night, but we also kicked off the Vince Colvin State Farm Insurance Shoot for Cash.  Our first contestant of the season was Andrea Thompson of Quitman.  Andrea took the court at halftime of the varsity boys game last night with confidence.  Thompson made the lay up with neted him .99 cents.  He then moved out to the free throwq line and splashed that shot home and won $9.99.  Then Thompson walked over to the right baseline for his 3-point shot, and as he did on his first two shots, Thompson splashed that shot threw and won $99.00.  That is where it would all end for Mr. Thompson as he was unable to hit from mid court.  Had Thompson been able to make the mid-court shot, he would have taken home $999.00.  Our next oportunity for someone to take a shot at $999.00 in the Vince Colvin State Farm Shoot for Cash will be Tuesday, January 13 in Grand Saline as both the Lady Indians and the Indians will play host to Alba-Golden.