• By Tiffany Saunders
• Originally published January 6, 2010 at 7:17 p.m., updated January 6, 2010 at 7:19 p.m.

The Palacios Sharkettes stumbled to a fifth-place finish at their own Holiday Tournament on December 28 and 29.

Palacios opened the tournament with a loss to Bloominton 47-40. Lupita Reyes let the Sharkettes in the scoring column with nine points. Reyes averaged just over four points per game in the tournament. Christy Grice, Christen Sandoval and Erica Serna all pitched in seven points apiece in the opening-round loss.

The challenge would not be any easier for the Sharkettes as they met up with county rival Van Vleck in Round Two of the tournament. Van Vleck defeated Palacios earlier in the season and the Lady Leopards came out with a 54-46 victory in the rematch. Clarisa Polk paced the Sharkettes with 13 points in the showdown. Sandoval also dropped in double-digits, finishing with 12.

Palacios moved to the second day of action and found its offensive groove, blasting Tivoli 73-18. Sandoval had the hot hand and finished with a 23-point outburst to lead the team in scoring. Her teammates spread the wealth in distributing the scoring. Reyes and Maria Gutierrez registered eight points, Polk and Grice chipped in six each, Chelsea Slaughter finished with four and Kayla Quinney rounded out the scoring with two.

The win over Tivoli vaulted Palacios into the fifth-place game against Louise. But unlike the feast of scoring against Tivoli, the Sharkettes suffered a famine as they matched up against Louise. The Lady Hornets took down the host team 63-38. Once again, Sandoval scored in double figures and led the team with 15. She averaged just over 14 points per game for the tournament. Slaughter and Polk dropped in five apiece, Gutierrez and Quinney scored four each, Serna added three and Grice had two.

“It was good for us to get back playing after being off for a week,” Palacios Head Coach Aaron Wollam said. “We played well in spurts during the tourney, but couldn’t seem to put together a whole game except for the Tivoli game.”

While the Sharkettes struggled in their return to action, the Van Vleck Lady Leopards rolled into the championship contest after stringing together three consecutive victories.

Van Vleck opened the tournament by downing Tivoli 53-24. The Lady Leopards then defeated Palacios 54-46. The third game of the tournament was more of a battle, although the Lady Leopards pulled out a 35-30 win over East Bernard. The Lady Leopards then narrowly fell to Columbia in the title game, 51-44.

Matagorda County placed two athletes on the All-Tournament Team – Van Vleck’s Jo’Na Griffin and Palacios’ Sandoval.

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