WEED – The Weed Lady Cougars got back one of their three injured senior starters on Tuesday. But, even the return of Nicolette Neel’s hustle and determination wasn’t enough to hold off the Tulelake Lady Honkers. After a close first quarter, Tulelake out ran and out muscled the depleted Lady Cougars for a 51-29 victory.

Weed led just once in the game. After a hoop by Tulelake’s Gabby Rascon and a pair of freebies by Rosana Chavolla gave the Lady Honkers a 4-1 advantage, the Lady Cougars strung together three straight baskets. A put back by Weed’s Kera Vogel made it 4-3. Neel grabbed a long rebound and was off to the races for an easy lay up, giving the Lady Cougars a 5-3 lead. A steal-n-score by Jessica Gardner upped Weed’s lead to 7-3, with 2:40 left in the first quarter. However, that was as good as it would get for the Lady Cougars.

A put back by Chavolla got the Honkers on the move again. Lexie Greenback came up with a steal and passed to Rascon for a basket, regaining the lead for Tulelake, 8-7. Next, it was Rascon’s turn for a helper, connecting with Michelle Rupert for a break away bucket to give the Lady Honkers a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Tulelake all but shut down the Lady Cougars in the second quarter, allowing just three points. Offensively, Tulelake’s Rascon opened the quarter with a pair of hoops, one courtesy of a nice dish from Frankie Baley. Back-to-back baskets by Rupert opened up an 11 point lead, 18-7.

Weed scored its only points of the second quarter about midway through. Neel made a free throw and Gardner went coast-to-coast with a rebound for a hoop, making the score 18-10.

A freebie by Rascaon, and a Rupert to Baley pass for a bucket finished out the scoring for the half, with Tulelake in the lead 21-10. The Lady Honkers out scored Weed 14-6 in the third quarter to take a 35-16 lead. After a relatively even fourth quarter, Tulelake went home with a 51-29 win.

Lady Honker Michelle Rupert led all scorers with 14 points, Gabby Rascon had 9, and Rosana Chavolla put up 6 points.

For the Lady Cougars, sophomore Jessica Gardner scored 9 points, and Sasha Wroten had 7.

Tulelake (5-4) will be at the Modoc Tournament this Thursday–Saturday, opening with Lakeview.

Weed (0-6) is at Dunsmuir (2-6) on Friday, December 18.