Panthers to battle Carroll, Coppell to edge into postseason

A difficult loss to L.D. Bell on Friday night has pushed Colleyville Heritage into a more precarious position in the playoff hunt, and while the Panthers will need to come up big in their final games of the season, coach Stephen Hamrick said he is confident his team can do so.

Colleyville played Southlake Carroll on Tuesday after the paper press deadline and will host Coppell at 8 p.m. on Friday.

“I think it will be hard-fought game again,” Hamrick said of the Cowboys. “I think that it will be a very tight game. They are possession oriented, they are playing well right now and putting some wins together. Our personnel is very similar, so it aught to be a battle. I think it will be very competitive.”

The Panthers lost to Bell by a score of 46-43 on Friday night, and Hamrick said there were a couple of areas where his team really did not step up the way it should have.

“I thought we were really good, but we dug ourselves a hole early in the game,” Hamrick said. “We fought back in the fourth quarter, and really gave ourselves a chance to steal one and just didn't get it done. We were 6 for 17 from the foul line, and we had several baskets out there that we just didn't convert. You've got to make your shots in district play when the games are tight and scoring is low.”

Colleyville went on a 22-9 run in the fourth quarter to bring the game to within three points, and Hamrick said that was a good thing to see.

“They did some soul searching, hunkered down and competed,” Hamrick said. “They really played with a great sense of urgency and desperation. But that is something that you have to do for four quarters. You just can't do it for a quarter.

“That is something that I was very proud of. They could have just given up, but they didn't. They fought hard until the end. They played themselves back into it and with a couple more possessions, we could have made it interesting. I was really proud of them.”

Hamrick is well aware of how jumbled the playoff hunt is at this point and said that he believes Colleyville Heritage has a hard row to hoe, but added that this is nothing new for his team.

“There is no question that we have a tough road ahead of us,” Hamrick said. “We've played and beaten good teams all year. I feel really good about our club. We just have to bounce back. The most important play and the most important game is always the next game and the next play, and I feel very positive.

“It's going to be tough, but these guys have been very good at bouncing back all year long. They have been very good playing on the road all year long, and I don't expect anything less.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2015 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Panthers to battle Carroll, Coppell to edge into postseason."