Granbury girls sweep away Stephenville in third meeting

By Mark Goodson

mgoodson@star-telegram.com

GLEN ROSE -- Granbury junior Ashley Bonugli said the difference after the Pirates came out of a timeout early in the third quarter was just getting the game into the Pirates' tempo.

Granbury did just that, turning a close game into the Pirates' third victory this season over its biggest rival, Stephenville. Granbury emerged with a 59-38 victory in the Region I Class 4A quarterfinal in front of a crowd of 2,000 at Tiger Arena at Glen Rose High School.

The 5-foot-9 Bonugli did most of her work off the glass with nine rebounds. She also hit three 3-pointers to help lead Granbury's 1-2 punch, along with 6-3 center Lilley VanderZee. The pair combined for 42 points and 19 rebounds to give Granbury its 29th victory of the season.

The Pirates (29-9) advance to the regional tournament in Snyder against either Clint Horizon or Amarillo Palo Duro.

The Pirates never trailed Tuesday night and led by eight at halftime despite a big difference in foul shooting in the favor of the Honeybees (19-17).

Stephenville came out strong to open the third quarter and quickly hit two shots by Breyana Diaz on a 12-foot jumper and an inside shot off a pass from Sheridan Stokes.

Granbury missed its first four shots of the quarter, and Stephenville was two of three in the first two minutes.

But after a timeout, Granbury made five of its next nine shots and held Stephenville to only one field goal in five attempts to finish the third quarter ahead 43-27.

"We just had to keep it up and play our game," Bonugli said.

Stephenville played solid defense, but VanderZee was a mismatch inside. She finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds and came up big in the third-quarter run.

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