Wellington punches ticket to UIL state tournament for first time in school history

LEVELLAND – History makers.

Pioneers.

Regional champions.

The Wellington Lady Skyrockets are more than happy to take any one of those monikers after making school history on Saturday afternoon at the Texan Dome.

Entering their third Region I-2A championship game in the past four years, Wellington made this one the charm downing Farwell 56-44 earning a first ever trip to the Alamodome in San Antonio.

“This is a special group,” Wellington head coach Cade Brown said. “This entire team has bought in. It’s been so fun to be a part of. I just can’t believe this.”

These Wellington seniors have been so close so many times. As freshman they fell to Panhandle in the regional championship. Two years ago, the Lady Skyrockets came up short against an unbelievable Gruver team in another regional final.

Last year, it was Farwell that took Wellington down in the second round. However, this time, the veteran group of Briley Waters, Kaitlin Bawcom, Abbie Garcia, Audrey Jones, Charley Wilbur and Presley Kane punched through that glass ceiling.

“It’s fun to see these seniors get to make it to the state tournament,” Brown said. “They earned it and this community couldn’t be happier for them.”

Waters echoed Brown’s comment.

“We’ve been fighting for this,” Waters said. “This one means a lot because we all played and contributed. We all proved we could do it and showed who we are.”

Wellington’s Charley Wilbur picked up where she left off during her 27-point performance during a 48-35 win against New Home scoring eight of the Lady Skyrockets 11 first quarter points. Wilbur added four more in the second, and another six in the fourth posting 20 on the night.

In the two games combined, Waters led Wellington with 47 points.

Waters followed knocking down big shot after big shot. Farwell cut the lead 25-17 in the third, Waters would quickly answer with a corner 3-ball putting Wellington back up 28-17.

The Lady Blue again cut the deficit inside double digits in the fourth, Waters responded with another big shot from downtown or at the free-throw line.

“I didn’t play very good against New Home,” Waters said. “I wanted to come out and pick my team up and do a better job. I just wanted to make sure we were going to win this game.”

Waters totaled a game-high 21 points with 15 of those coming in the second half.

The Lady Skyrockets made Farwell play at its pace and never let the Lady Blue get in any kind of flow. Farwell will also want to forget what they did at the free-throw line starting the game 0-for-11 until finally making two shots from the charity stripe late in the third quarter to snap that streak.

Farwell’s Chloee Whitten poured in a team-high 12 points as the Lady Blue finish a tremendous year at 33-4.

Wellington  11  25  41  56
Farwell         5   12   24  44
W- Briley Waters 21, Charley Wilbur 20. F- Chloee Whitten 12, Makylee Baldwin 11. Records: Wellington 28-6; Farwell; Farwell 33-4.