Gruver’s Bailey Maupin celebrates after a bucket during the Lady Hounds showdown with Canadian in the Gruver Holiday Classic Tournament on Thursday night. [Ben Jenkins/ Press Pass Sports]
GRUVER— It wasn’t the Alamodome, a region tournament or, for that matter, even a district game Friday evening at the Gruver High Gym.
But implications of the clash between Gruver and Canadian in the girls championship game of the Gruver Holiday Classic were impossible to ignore.
It’s hard to imagine a late December game carrying more weight in a matchup between two teams who were unbeaten and No. 1 in the state in their respective classes (Gruver in Class 2A, Canadian in 3A). And it was home cooking which took home the blue ribbon, as tournament host Gruver rolled to a 57-32 victory which settled some early arguments in terms of region girls high school basketball.
Gruver (16-0) can now count Canadian (20-1) as another big notch on what’s becoming a very impressive belt to end 2021. Prior to handing the Lady Wildcats their first defeat of the season, the Lady Greyhounds could boast of victories over defending state champions Brownfield (3A) and Canyon (4A).
Coach Trent Lankford wanted to treat Canadian as just another opponent, but deep down he knew things were different entering the tourney title game.
“We really talk about it like it’s the next game on our schedule,” Lankford said. “We try to keep that mentality. I know that for these kids, Gruver vs. Canadian is a big game. It’s a big game for the community as well as you can see by the turnout.”
A look at the brackets might have made this matchup seem inevitable. Both schools have won state championships some time in the past five years, and the numbers this year indicate that it wouldn’t be any surprise to see them both return to San Antonio in March to vie for another state title in their respective classifications.
“Canadian’s obviously one of the best programs in the state regardless of classification,” Lankford said. “You can’t be 20-0 at this point in the season not have played some people, so full respect to their program. We approached it with a very business-like attitude, starting with our walk through this morning. It was a measuring stick game in a sense because you have two really good programs really going after it, and our kids fought and battled and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Gruver set the early tone by scoring the first eight points of the game. The Lady Greyhounds led by as many as 15 points in the first half en route to taking a 28-15 halftime lead.
Bailey Maupin and Camryn Armes provided balance inside and outside for the Lady Greyhounds, as they led the way offensively with 25 and 14 points respectively. Canadian simply couldn’t match such offensive diversity from the start.
“We talk about getting off to a fast start every game,” Lankford said. “That’s our focus. Getting out to an 8-0 run and getting some easy shots to fall was a big part of that.”
Maupin, meanwhile, continues to cement her reputation as arguably the best girls player in the area. She showed the offensive ability which led her to sign with Texas Tech, as she scored 13 points in the first half and 12 in the second, hitting a pair of 3-pointers after halftime to help the Lady Greyhounds steadily increase their lead.
“Our fans really came out and showed support,” Maupin said. “Canadian people came out too. It was a lot of fun to play in a packed gym. It was standing room only.”
But it was clearly a partisan crowd behind the Lady Greyhounds, who were in control the whole way. They started the second half with an Armes bucket and a Maupin 3-pointer and built their lead to as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter.
Canadian fought gamely, but was unable to get closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
“I think for the sake of tonight it certainly was (a big game) but in the grand scheme of things we knew this wasn’t your average regular season game by any means,” Canadian coach Aaron Marks said. “(The Greyhounds) certainly came out and were the better team at all ends of the floor. It forced us to learn the hard way like we did but we’ll certainly be able to take some things from tonight to the practice floor.”
Both schools will open district play next week, as Gruver opens District 1-2A play by hosting West Texas High and Canadian starts District 1-3A play against Dalhart.
But both teams have plans for far beyond the first week of 2022. Maupin put that into perspective while still enjoying the win.
“This game didn’t mean a lot as far as going to state but it was for bragging rights,” Maupin said. “It was really nice to win. Both teams are good. Canadian has a great group and they’re going to go far.”
Mattie Boyd was Canadian’s lone scorer in double figures with 18 points.
Canadian 9 15 27 32
Gruver 17 28 43 57
C— Mattie Boyd 18, Kennedi Cook 6. G— Bailey Maupin 25, Camryn Armes 14. Records: Canadian 20-1, Gruver 16-0.
Boys championship
Greyhounds rolls past Harvesters
Immediately after their girls team won their own tournament title, the Gruver boys followed suit, beating Pampa 64-48 in the championship.
The two teams started off evenly, as the game was tied 12-12 at the end of the first quarter. But Gruver (14-5) took the lead for good in the second quarter, putting the defensive clamps on Pampa by allowing only five points in the period.
Colton Millsap led the Greyhounds with 22 points and Mason Gibson added 14. Cason Floyd had a game-high 23 points for the Harvesters and Hector Villanueva added 11.