PHOTOS BY CHERI JAY-WIENECKE Lometa's Junior Castruita (in white) attempts to make a basket while avoiding a Jonesboro defender. Change often accompanies a new year, but not for the Hornets varsity basketball team.

They are still rolling through the competition.

Lometa improved to 14-1 on the season and 4-0 in district following a 71-48 pounding of Jonesboro at home Tuesday evening.

The Hornets held Jonesboro to 10 points or less in three of the four quarters, and finished with four players scoring in double-digits.

“We wore them down in the end, but it was a pretty good game for the first two or three quarters,” head coach Wendell Bradley said.

Lometa led by 12 points, 50-38, after the third period, but closed the game with a 21-10 run.

Hector Rivera and Dalton Parsons each scored 13 in the victory, while Charlie Wagner and Felipe Nava added a dozen apiece.

Lady Hornet Kylie Bradley (in white) goes up for two points in the Lometa girls' loss to Jonesboro Tuesday night at Lometa's home court. Parsons and Rivera were responsible for six of the team’s seven 3- pointers.

“We’re going to keep shooting [from outside] because at any point, we could start hitting them, and that opens up our inside game,” Bradley said.

The victory comes on the heels of another tournament championship for the Hornets after Lometa swept its opponents at the Priddy/ Zephyr tournament just prior to the new year.

The current winning streak sets up a big-time showdown between the Hornets and Priddy tonight.

Lometa comes into the game ranked No. 14 in Class 1A-DII, according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches. Priddy sits one spot behind the Hornets in rankings at No. 15.

While excited about the recognition, Bradley feels it could be the only thing with the potential to derail his club from its winning path.

Sasha Sosa (in white) fights for the loose ball during the Lady Hornets' Tuesday night game against Jonesboro. Lometa fell by 23 points. “You’re talking about teenage boys here, and when you start telling them how good they are, they start having trouble getting on the bus because their head is so big,” the coach said. “Right now, our biggest enemy is us.”

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The Lady Hornets were not as fortunate as they began their run through 2010.

Jonesboro came to Lometa and defeated the home team 56-33 Tuesday evening.

Jonesboro jumped out to a 12- point advantage, 21-9, by the end of the first period and never looked back, increasing the lead to 19 points, 44-25, by the end of the third quarter.

Maribel Reyes finished with a team-high 12 points, while Adriana Hernandez followed with 10 points. Marissa Nichols chipped in eight points, including a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers, in the loss.

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The Lometa Junior High teams lost their first contests of the new year to Priddy, as the girls fell 50- 14, and the boys suffered a heartbreaker as they lost by a single point, 36-35.

The Lady Hornets were led by Laci Moreno’s six-point performance, while Eric Nichols was the Hornets’ top offensive threat, finishing with 10 points.