Plowboys Open Season with Win at Munday

Hunter Anglin scored 13 points in last night's win over Munday.

The Plowboys opened their basketball season with a come-from-behind 39-37 victory over Munday in Munday last night. Trailing 18-11 at halftime and 31-24 at the end of three, the Plowboys outscored the Moguls 15 to 6 in the fourth quarter to win by two, 39-37.

Hunter Anglin led the scoring for the Plowboys with 13 points, followed closely by Ryan Highsmith, who had 12. Brayan Medina made 6 points, Junior Martinez 5, Vidal Aguayo 3, and Tristan Baker 1.

Scoring by quarters:
Plowboys            3          11        24        39
Munday              9          18        31        37

The Plowboys’ next game will be next Tuesday, November 25, when they take on Anson in Anson. The JV game begins at 5:00pm and the varsity game at 6:30pm.

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PLOWGIRLS LOSE TWO: ONE CLOSE, ONE NOT

The Plowgirls have played two games since last week and unfortunately lost them both. On Saturday afternoon, they played a nail-biter with Winters, losing by only two points, 48-46. 

Then last night they never really had a chance against a good Ira team in Ira because they had three starters out. They lost that one 54-34.

Winters 48 - Plowgirls 46

Scores by quarters:
Winters            14         27         34          48       
Plowgirls           9          24         31          46 

Individual Plowgirl scoring: Kaylea Perez 12, Carson Greenwood 11, Shauna McCambridge 7, Layla Herrera 6, Riley Sheridan 6, Cameron Greenwood 4, Sadie McCambridge 0, A. Ortega-Solis 0.

The JV Plowgirls won their game 22-16. 

Ira 54 - Plowgirls 34

Scores by quarters:
Ira                    14          34        47          54
Plowgirls          8          12         19          34

Individual Plowgirl scoring: Perez 12, Ortega-Solis 8,  Sh. McCambridge 6, Car. Greenwood 6, Cam. Greenwood 2, Sheridan 0, Herrera 0.

The JV Plowgirls won their game 26-19. They are still undefeated at 4-0.

The Plowgirls’ next game is next Tuesday, November 25, with Post at the Special Events Center. JV game starts at 5:00, varsity at 6:30pm.

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ROSCOE IN YEARS GONE BY: BASKETBALL DISPUTE WITH ABILENE

Editor's note: As happens occasionally, news was short in Roscoe this week. Just about all that's been going on is the weather and basketball, so while we're reporting on basketball, I thought I'd include an article about a difference of opinion Roscoe had with the Abilene team way back in 1921. 

The 1921 RHS team: From the top: Everett Duncan, Bob Potter, Jack Johnson, Cecil Long, Fred Haney.

(from the Abilene Reporter-News, January 14, 1921.)
 
DENIES ABILENE FIVE FORFEITED TO ROSCOE; REFUSE TO ACCEPT TERMS

Denial of the claims advanced by Roscoe High School that the Abilene High School had forfeited a game to them through failure to come to Roscoe on Tuesday for a basketball game was made by Coach P. E. Shotwell of the local high Friday morning. The Reporter has received a communication from Roscoe from an anonymous writer, who says under date of Tuesday, “The Abilene High School forfeited the scheduled basketball game to Roscoe High School today when they refused to come here. Roscoe High School is the undefeated champion of Nolan, Mitchell, and Taylor counties. They have a fast light team and expect to take the district championship this year.”

“When the basketball schedule was made out,” Coach Shotwell said Friday, “it was agreed that the teams should meet as arranged in the schedule if satisfactory arrangements could be made. The Abilene High School offered to pay the expenses of the Roscoe High if they would come here and play, or we were willing to go there if they would pay our expenses. They refused to do either. Therefore, we did not go to Roscoe on account of the fact that a satisfactory agreement for staging the game could not be reached.”

The Abilene High basketball five was scheduled to play at Ovalo today, Friday, but up to noon Coach Shotwell had been unable to get in touch with Ovalo.

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EARLY DAY SPORTS AT ROSCOE HIGH SCHOOL

The 1925 RHS girls' team, l to r: Lucille Gordon, Alene Snyder, Arita Risinger, Emily Arledge, Alyeen Ater, Jewel Hastings, Vera Pitts, Bernice Duncan, Maud Williams Green, Coach.

The 1921 basketball article above reminded me of questions I’ve been asked over the years about when Roscoe High School first played certain sports. So, by way of explanation I started writing down what I've found out or heard in that regard, and the result, which follows, turned into a longer and more involved discussion of the evolution of girls’ basketball in Roscoe than I originally intended. Nevertheless, I include it all in the hope that some of the details may be of interest to at least some readers.

The earliest information I’ve found concerning a Roscoe High School sports team is a February 23, 1908, article in the Fort Worth Telegram about a baseball game. Entitled “Colorado Team Wins Game from Roscoe,” its subheading is “High Schools of Two West Texas Towns Play, Score Resulting 13 to 5.” Then in 1909, an Abilene Reporter-News article mentions a track meet sponsored by Roscoe High School.

The first we know about football is from a 1972 interview with R. E. Gracey conducted by Fred Carpenter of the Southwestern Historical Museum at Texas Tech. Gracey, who graduated from Roscoe High in 1913, says he and his classmates played football. He mentions that students had to buy their own equipment, including the football, and there was no designated football field. He also says they played teams from Colorado City, Snyder, Sweetwater, Loraine, and Blackwell.

Unfortunately, there is no record I know of to determine when the school first had basketball teams, either boys’ or girls’, but by the 1920s they had both. In those days, basketball was played outside on dirt courts, and I’ve been told the girls played on an open lot across Cypress Street from the Lumberyard, about where the Legacy Tattoo Parlour is now.

Girls’ rules were different in those days, and in the 1920s, modesty demanded that they wear stockings and bloomers as uniforms. Also, the girls’ rules were different from the boys’ because it was believed that the full-court game the boys played was too strenuous for girls.

Originally, there were six girls to a team, and the court was divided into three parts with two girls from each team in each part. Two offensive players took shots at the opponents’ basket on one end, two in the center could only move the ball from the defensive to the offensive side, and two others guarded their own team’s goal on the other end.

In 1938, the girls’ rules changed, and the court was divided into two parts with three defenders on one end and three offensive players on the other. Players could not cross the center line but had to pass or hand the ball to a teammate on the other side. In Texas, these rules lasted into the 1970s. At Roscoe, girls played six-player half-court rules until 1978, when they switched over to five players and full court rules like they play today. Also, at RHS, girls’ basketball was discontinued by school board vote in 1958 and not taken up again until 1967.

In Roscoe, basketball games were played outdoors until a gymnasium was built around 1933. From what I've heard, that old gym was more like a barn. Scores in outside games were usually much lower than today with final totals for each team usually in the teens or less.

In any case, basketball and other high school sports have a long and venerable history in Roscoe. Whether the “fast, light” RHS basketball team of 1921 won the district championship or remained the undefeated champions of Nolan, Mitchell, and Taylor Counties is not known, but I’m guessing that maybe they didn’t if Abilene coach P. E. Shotwell had anything to do with it. 

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WEATHER REPORT: WARMER, NICER

Sunrise on Sunday.

After the erratic and varied weather of the week before, this past week seemed much smoother and more pleasant with steadily warming temperatures culminating in the past two days, both of which were as nice as you could ask for with sunny skies, light breezes, and afternoon temperatures that reached 73°F on Monday and 78° yesterday. There were no freezing temperatures after last Wednesday, and highs increased from 53° on Thursday to 62° Friday, 67° Saturday, 62° Sunday, and then 73° Monday and 78° yesterday. Lows were also warmer including last night’s low of 59°, the warmest low we’ve since mid-October.

The forecast is for another warm day today with a high of 72° under partly cloudy skies and with strong south winds of 20 to 30mph with gusts even higher this morning. This afternoon, there is a 40% chance of thundershowers, and tonight the winds will die down. Tomorrow evening winds will shift to the north, temperatures will drop to a high of about 64°, and there will be a 50% chance of rain during the day increasing to 80% tomorrow night. Friday’s high will be only about 52° with a low Friday night in the upper thirties. Saturday will be sunny and warmer at 64° with Sunday afternoon reaching 67° and Monday back up to 70°. Lows will be around 40°.

Any rain after tomorrow is unlikely.

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