By Marcus Elliott

Sports Editor

The Lady Coyotes honored their seniors on Friday night before the team took on its neighbor to the north, Van Alstyne. The senior group consisted of Shannon Barnes, Tatiana Alexander, Alicia Olvera and trainer Amanda Rossi. Barnes and Alexander, however, have been plagued with injuries this season, leaving a crew of mostly sophomores to fill in.

Anna will finish its season this week by playing host to Celina on Friday night and then playing its season finale at Bonham on Tuesday.

Van Alstyne 62, Anna 45

Senior Tatiana Alexander started her senior night game off with a rebound and put-back that gave Anna an early 2-0 lead. That lead didn’t last long as the Lady Panthers pulled off the spoiler, taking the game 62-45. After the early bucket by Anna, Van Alstyne scored five unanswered points to take a lead that it would never relinquish. Whitney Love hit a first-quarter shot for Anna but the Lady Panthers had an answer for every offensive scheme Anna put on the floor.

The second quarter was the toughest of the game for Anna, with the Lady Coyotes only able to muster six points, four of them courtesy of Brice Inman. At halftime, they trailed 33-14.

Anna came out of the locker room with a spark in their game, fueled by Moreno scoring seven unanswered points to cut the Van Alstyne lead to 12 and force a timeout. The Lady Panthers settled down after the break and were able to build their lead back to 18 before the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter was the most productive of the game for Anna but the run, which included several shots by Moreno and a tough jumper by Breanna Dilldine, was not enough to close the gap and Van Alstyne went on to win by 18. Deianaira Moreno led all Anna scorers, finishing the game with 17 points. Inman and Love both finished the game with seven points each. Other Anna scorers included: Destene Rodriguez (4), Denisha Hampton (4), Breanna Dilldine (3), Alexander (2) and Abby Besco (1).