Lampasas senior post Lauren Barlow has this shot blocked from behind by Killeen’s Jasmine Goodwine as the Lady Roos earned a share of the district championship. PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE The final standings show Lampasas missed the playoffs by two games.

But it was much closer than that.

In essence, the Lady Badgers finished their season a mere seven points shy of reaching the postseason after falling at Marble Falls by six points, 56-50, last Friday. The victory clinched the district’s final playoff berth for the Lady Mustangs and eliminated Lampasas in the process.

The Lady Badgers went on to lose their season finale at home against Killeen, but it was the lingering memories of the loss to the Lady Mustangs that made the final buzzer of Tuesday night’s game such a difficult sound to endure.

“We were so close [to making the playoffs],” Lampasas head coach Stuart Beckwith said after his team’s 47-34 loss to the Lady Kangaroos. “To get biblical, Moses got to see the Promised Land, but he didn’t get to go into it. This year, we were able to climb the mountain and see it.”

Sophomore Hailey Morrison reaches way back as she tries to haul in a rebound while Madison Morris (14) looks on. Although a victory over Marble Falls would not have secured Lampasas a trip to the postseason, a win in that game coupled with a Lady Badger victory over Killeen or a Lady Mustang loss to Hendrickson Tuesday night would have done the trick.

While Lampasas could not overcome Killeen’s offensive firepower late, as luck would have it Marble Falls lost by 15 points, 60-45, to the Lady Hawks.

But the Lady Badgers’ goal is not abandoned, just delayed.

“Some of the seniors [after the game] made comments [to the effect of], ‘Make sure we get playoff shirts next year when you go,’ ” Beckwith said. “They recognize the potential of the team coming back, and I think as close as we got this year, next year we want to kick the door in.”

Four Lady Badger seniors and their families take part in a ceremony at halfcourt prior to the team’s season finale against Killeen. Next year, however, the Lady Badgers will be without four seniors who helped turn around the program’s fortunes after going winless through district competition last season.

Lauren Barlow, Sarah Bishop, Kalyn Urofsky and Makayla Valles concluded their high school careers against Killeen after being honored with their parents during a pregame ceremony.

“We hate to see them go,” Beckwith said. “We’re going to miss all those kids. They’re all great kids.”

Barlow scored 11 points, including the team’s lone fourthquarter field goal, to go with a game-high eight rebounds in the Senior Night loss to Killeen.

Lampasas’ other seniors were held scoreless in the game, but they were not alone as a host of Lady Badgers suffered offensively in the contest.

Barlow and junior Kayla Prescott, who totaled a game-high 15 points, were the only Lampasas players to reach double digits in scoring.

The duo made eight of their 17 field-goal attempts but got little help as the rest of the roster combined to make just two out of 17 shots. Only four other players contributed offensively, and nobody scored more than four points.

In the final period, the Lady Badgers produced just three points after trailing by four, 35-31, at the end of the third quarter. Marisa Bogart posted Lampasas’ final point of the evening on a free throw with 4:26 remaining.

Killeen, on the other hand, rebounded from a two-of-12 shooting performance in the third period to score a dozen points (5-9 FG) in the fourth quarter.

“We executed most of the time and when we didn’t, they hurt us,” Beckwith said.

After falling behind by six points at 13-7 to open the game, Lampasas sophomore Hailey Morrison grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to knot things up at 14-14.

But the contest’s only tie was short-lived, as the Lady Roos used a 14-5 run to take a 28-19 lead into halftime.

The Lady Badgers never led in the game but worked their way within a single point at 32-31 when Prescott tallied a pair of free throws with 1:31 remaining in the third quarter. Lampasas was outscored 16-3 from that point.

“There were a lot of opportunities, but [Killeen] is just a good team,” Beckwith said of the district’s co-champions who split the title with Hendrickson.

Lady Roos senior guard Tameeka Randall scored a game-high 14 points to go with a trio of rebounds, assists and steals. Classmate Jasmine Baugus also had an impressive all-around performance with 13 points, two assists, five steals and six rebounds.

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Both Lampasas girls’ subvarsity teams lost their season finales to Killeen.

The Lady Badgers freshman team failed to score a point in the first quarter, and Killeen held a 24-10 lead at halftime before winning 34- 17.

The Lampasas junior varsity team could not overcome Killeen’s 14-6 second-quarter run and lost by five points, 38-33.

The Lady Badgers went into the second quarter leading 8-7 and outscored the Lady Roos in the second half by two points, 19-17, behind Juls Crook’s team-high 14 points.