PORT NECHES — Mikayla Johnson scored early and scored often in the first half Thursday against Baytown Sterling at the Port Neches-Groves Tournament.
Johnson had a hat trick before the end of the first half and Hailey Loupe also found the back of the net to guide the Lady Indians to a 4-1 victory. All four PN-G goals came in the first half.
Johnson scored not even two minutes into the match at the 38:18 mark to give PN-G an early 1-0 lead. She netted another goal at 20:10 and soon after Loupe found the net to give the Lady Indians a 3-0 lead.
PN-G and Johnson’s last goal came with 5:45 left in the first half.
Sterling scored early in the second half.
Coach Aimee Bates was pleased with the execution of the PN-G offense against Sterling.
“We went to College Station (last weekend) and played top level teams,” Bates said. “I think we were trying to make something work and unfortunately we didn’t get to work on a formation because of Kayla Reed’s injury.
“We worked on another one and that is coming along. We are getting better at building chemistry and moving forward. Today we had more success scoring goals so we definitely want to keep that up. We still want to look at more possession. We are not connecting at times.”
Bates said she was really pleased with how her team finished around the net on Thursday against Sterling. “We are executing,” Bates said. “It is a great feeling knowing we can score goals but we have to get the ball more and have more opportunities. I think we gave up a couple good looks at the goal today so we need to shut those down. That way when they get a free shot, Libbie (Lejeune) can get that ball nine times out of 10.”
Bates and the Lady Indians defeated Hardin-Jefferson 2-1 later Thursday evening.
Johnson and Loupe each had a goal for the Lady Indians.