Fresh off a first place finish in the Turnstone invitational, the Texas Stampede traveled to San Diego California for the best of the west invitational. This tournament Consistently has been one of the earliest matchups for some of the higher division one teams. The stampede entered the tournament with a fifth seed.

The day begin with the Stampede going against defending National champs the Phoenix heat. “We entered the game with a strong game plan but we were not able to stay on point”, said Coach James Gumbert. “Between early growing pains for many of our lines and good play by Phoenix we found ourselves fighting out of a hole”, he went on to say. The team was within striking distance however, but the third and fourth proved to be too much for the stampede and they drop the opener 50-58. 

“We felt like we learned quite a bit in game one and tried to correct errors as we had a short turnaround for game two of the day against the number two seed The University of Arizona Wildcats, said Gumbert. “The team started out with three quick steals from Arizona and at the end of one found themselves tied with the preseason number one favorite in the USQRA. “We really just tried to play loose and clean up the mistakes from game one, said Gumbert. The team battled back-and-forth with the game never separating more than two points until the end of the third.

“We really have been concentrating on playing to a high standard, said Gumbert. “we are our toughest critics”. The team battled through the fourth but the bench of Arizona and The points differential would prove too much to overcome in the fourth. The stampede lose game two 58 to 52.

“We learned quite a bit about ourselves and we are excited for the rest of the weekend”, said  Gumbert. “We have some excellent opportunities to take even more steps and really lay the groundwork for the rest of this year.”  he said

For more information on this and the rest of the weekend go to www.fearthesteer.com.