Three Lea County basketball teams take another step forward Tuesday

Clayton Jones/News-Sun

Hobbs' Earl Woods had 25 points and 13 rebounds

against Midland High on Tuesday in Midland.

  It was a night of accomplishments around the Lea County hoops basketball scene Tuesday night as the Hobbs boys, the Hobbs girls and the Lovington girls all proved something to themselves and others with wins.
  – For the Hobbs boys, the Eagles showed they can close a lesser team out and put it away. Hobbs led Midland High 51-23 at the half only to see the Bulldogs cut the lead to 20 midway through the third quarter.
  Usually, that isn't a reason to hit the panic button, but just two weeks ago Hobbs saw Odessa High erase a 21-point deficit in the final quarter and a half and had to beat the Bronchos in double overtime.
  But the Eagles (3-0) didn't let that happen this time, putting the Bulldogs away with an impressive 97-54 thrashing. A player that really seemed to take it up a notch was Earl Woods. The senior finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds and looked like a top-notch post player perfect for Hobbs' pressing ways with an ability to deflect passes on the press, run the floor and finish on layups and putbacks.
  – As for the Hobbs girls, the Lady Eagles notched its second win over a Texas Class 4A top 10 team in a week with a 37-36 win over No. 10 Amarillo Palo Duro. I wasn't at the game (I was in Midland) but the victory shows Hobbs' win over No. 7 Amarillo High last week was far from a fluke. Win or lose, these games were going to get Hobbs better for teams like Clovis down the road – but I'm sure winning these feels much better as the Lady Eagles are now 4-0.
  – The Jason Parrish era for the defending Class 3A girls basketball team got off on the right foot Tuesday night with a 39-38 win over defending Class 4A runner-up Roswell High in the Lovington girls basketball team's season opener.
  Many wondered how this team was going to look after the move of last season's head coach Chris Brattain to the boys program and the graduation of all-state guard Mystica Perez along with the transfer of 6-footer Bianca Walker.
  But with several players off last year's title winning team (the first in program history) still there, Lovington picked up with where it left off with a solid victory over Roswell High. This can do nothing but give confidence to Lovington. Big win.
  For complete coverage of these games (including photos, boxscores and full recaps), go to hobbsnews.com or pick up a copy of Wednesday's edition of the Hobbs News-Sun.