North Shore 37 – Pearland Lady Oilers 38
By Allan Jamail
February 22, 2022 – At the Pasadena Sam Rayburn High School gym, the Pearland Lady Oilers brought GPISD North Shore Lady Mustangs’ playoff hopes to a close, winning 38 to 37. As this low score tells, the game was a defensive battle and, as usual when this happens in a close game, it was the team with the ball in their possession in the final seconds who won.
The game many thought would be an easy win for the Eastside girls ended up as a shock and surprise when Pearland won by one point in the final couple seconds. The shock and surprise was because earlier in the season, North Shore won against Pearland by 24 points, 54 – 30.
North Shore’s coach Allison Campbell said the first time they played the Lady Oilers, they didn’t have all their starters, as they did in this game. Plus they added a new player to their team that the UIL recently cleared to play.
The North Shore team had more turnovers than normal, and this was because Pearland’s defense was so aggressive. Atria “Tree” Dumas, the Mustangs’ leading rebounder and a double digit scorer, was held to only 3 points, where she usually gets near 20 points a game. She was double-teamed most of the time when she played. Coach Campbell took her out of the game for half of the first quarter and all of the 2nd quarter, because Campbell said Dumas had 2 early fouls and she didn’t want her to foul out.
Missed free throws by the Lady Mustangs were a major factor in their loss, especially when you lose by a mere point. Free throws can be difficult to make, even for the pros, because of the stress and pressure on the shooter. The higher the stakes in a game, and with a close game, the more pressure on shooting them.
The team played exceptionally well all season. To not even be ranked and still reach the Regional Quarterfinals is a testament of how good they are, and the coaches too. They can be proud to have a 10 win, 2 loss district record.
Pearland lost their next game to Summer Creek, and now Summer Creek is advancing to the State Championship playoffs.
Statistician Linda Jamail, Allanj211@aol.com