Injuries continue to slow the girls’ basketball team, which lost starting post player Marleigh Givens to a torn ACL in the season opener.

Senior Hadley Wilkins, the Bulldogs’ starting point guard, “tweaked” her knee against Davis at the Wynnewood Basketball Invitational on December 12, according to coach Jacobi Couch.

A third starter, sophomore Dulce Rodriguez, turned her ankle in a home loss to Stratford on December 9 and missed the Wynnewood tournament.

The injuries forced Couch to retool his team on the fly.

“We’re right on the cusp of figuring it out. We just can’t put it all together just yet,” he told The Register.

“With (Marleigh) going down it forced other people to be in different roles, to have to score the ball and do some other things. People who probably wouldn’t play a whole lot of minutes are forced to play a lot more minutes.”

Lexington (1-6) has remained competitive despite the setbacks.

Against Stratford, the Bulldogs scored four points in the second half of a 41-22 loss. They ran out of gas in the fourth quarter against Bridge Creek — a 58-44 loss — in the tournament opener on December 11.

“We came up short in the fourth quarter,” Couch said. “They had a little more stamina than we did.”

Lexington led Davis 11-1 after one quarter and by as much as 17-1 before Wilkins’ injury and lost 39-35.

Lexington took on Plainview December 13 without Wilkins and senior Lexi Torres, who skipped the game to take her ACT.

“We thought she’d be able to take it and then get to the game in the afternoon, but it didn’t work out that way,” Couch said of Torres.

The Bulldogs took the court with only one starter, freshman Blayke Givens, who scored 17 points. Lexington played another competitive game but lost 36-32.

Couch played as many as five freshmen at the same time.

“The girls that I did have in there ... I think they played really really well,” he said.

“Some girls played that hadn’t played in a varsity game all season and they stepped up and played really well.”

Couch said he expects Wilkins and Rodriguez to return for the Bulldogs’ homecoming game at 6:30 p.m. against Sulphur December 17.

Boys

Reece Beason made sure the Lexington boys would leave the Wynnewood Invitational with their first win of the season.

The sophomore guard scored 30 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, and the Bulldogs outlasted Davis 63-55 on Saturday.

Beason made 13 of 16 free throws for the Bulldogs (1-6), who scored 21 fourth-quarter points. Sophomore guard Cash Dierking scored 16 points and senior Cale Garver added 12.

The victory was a bright spot for the Bulldogs, who lost their first two tournament games to Wynnewood and Comanche by combined scores of 147 to 67.

“It was great to get our first win on Saturday versus Davis,” Lexington coach Derek Clark told The Register. “We just have to find a way a way to take care of the ball better and find a way to get more quality shots.”

Lexington lost 51-47 to Stratford December 9, before opening the tournament with losses of 71-26 to Wynnewood December 11 and 76-41 to Comanche on December 12. They beat Davis the next day.

Dierking led the team with 27 points against Stratford. Lexington plays at Comanche at 3 p.m. December 18 and closes out the pre-holiday portion of the season December 19 at Bridge Creek.