Category: Girls basketball

by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Allen, lockdown defense fuel No. 14 Highland past Roby in area round win

COLORADO CITY — The 14th-ranked Highland girls basketball team overcame a slow offensive start with a sterling defensive effort Friday, limiting Roby to just six total field goals in a 31-16 area round win.

The Lady Hornets held the Lady Lions to three points in three of the four quarters and rallied from a 3-2 deficit at the end of one period to take a double-digit lead early in the second half.

Senior standout Taylor Allen fueled the winning effort for Highland, scoring 19 points to outscore Roby herself in leading the Lady Hornets into the Region II-1A quarterfinals, where they’ll face District 14-1A rival Westbrook next week.

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Huge Plowgirl rally falls short in tough area round loss to Sundown

POST — Plagued by an early case of nerves that led to missed shots from pointblank range and multiple turnovers, the Roscoe Plowgirls had dug a first-half hole for themselves in Friday’s 2A area round clash with Sundown. 

By night’s end, Roscoe came close enough to put a serious scare into Sundown, but eventually fell 56-47 at Antelope Arena. 

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Eula starts fast and rolls past Rotan, earns quarterfinals rematch with Hermleigh

ANSON — The Eula Lady Pirates, ranked No. 16 in the state in Class 1A, wasted no time in putting an end to any hopes Rotan had of a second straight playoff upset Friday night at Tiger Gymnasium.

The Lady Pirates jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first four minutes of the game on their way to a 41-16 win, earning a Region II-1A quarterfinal date with No. 12 Hermleigh on Tuesday at Jim Ned’s Bill Thornton Arena.

Eula was led offensively by Hailie Cauthen and Nyellie Lee. Cauthen had 15 of her game-high 17 points in the first half, while Lee scored 11 points.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: No. 2 Jim Ned passes area round test against scrappy Breckenridge squad

EULA — For a half, the Breckenridge girls basketball team gave No. 2 Jim Ned all it could handle Thursday in a Region I-3A area round matchup at Mary Mosley Gymnasium.

But a Lady Indians squad not accustomed to playing in tight games rose up to meet the challenge in the second half, using an 11-6 run through the third quarter to create some cushion in a 42-30 win.

The victory — just Jim Ned’s seventh this year by less than 14 points — earned the Lady Indians (33-1 on the season) a region quarterfinal matchup next week with District 6-3A mate Ballinger, which knocked off Wichita Falls City View 56-46 on Thursday.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Big second half lifts No. 3 Holliday to area round win over Wall

ANSON — Wall coach Jerry McSherry knew his squad would have a tough time in Thursday’s Region I-3A area round game against third-ranked Holliday.

While the Lady Hawks struggled offensively, they dominated on the defensive end of the floor in the first half, building a six-point lead at the break.

A much different story unfolded in the second half, however, as the Lady Eagles pulled away for a 46-33 win, ending the Lady Hawks’ season at 28-6.

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Westbrook, Highland sweep bi-district girls doubleheader at Winters

WINTERS — Beware of No. 3 seeds from tough districts. It’s been a hard lesson learned by multiple teams each year, the latest of which are the Cross Plains Lady Buffaloes, who were eliminated by third-seeded Westbrook in a girls Class 1A bi-district game on Tuesday, 35-32 at the Winters High School gym. 

Westbrook’s victory was followed by another for District 14-1A, which closed the evening with 57-22 win by Roscoe Highland over May in the nightcap. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Stephenville girls stymie Snyder in 66-30 bi-district win

TUSCOLA — The 10th-ranked Stephenville girls basketball team got its postseason started with a dominating performance Monday, using its patented pressure defense to fluster Snyder in a 66-30 bi-district win at Jim Ned’s Bill Thornton Arena.

The Honeybees shut the Lady Tigers out in the first quarter and built a 25-4 lead by halftime, ending the competitive phase of the game before the start of the third period.

The victory earned coach Jason Hodges’ team a highly anticipated area-round date with No. 11 Sanger (28-5), which routed Springtown 81-17 in its bi-district game on Monday. That matchup is slated for 6 p.m. Thursday in Weatherford.

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Merkel girls eliminate nervous Brady, 54-33

WINTERS — On paper, everything was on Brady’s side heading into Monday’s 54-33 loss to Merkel in the Class 3A girls bi-district round.

The second-seeded Lady Bulldogs had momentum, winning five of their last six games, while third-seeded Merkel was on a downswing, having lost three straight. 

There was just one problem: Merkel, which is housed in District 6 with the likes of No. 2 Jim Ned and No. 15 Wall, isn’t your run-of-the-mill third seed.  And the Lady Badgers quickly demonstrated that in a convincing win at Winters High School.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Coleman’s Smith takes this week’s award

With our recent bad weather pushing an extra game into last week for the Coleman Bluecats, it gave senior guard Braxton Smith three chances to pile up big numbers. 

And he did exactly that. 

Our Big Country Preps Player of the Week opened with 19 points and nine steals in a win over Bangs last Monday. He followed that with 13 points, eight assists and 10 steals in a near-triple double in a win over Winters. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

FEATURE: Young Brock Lady Eagles balancing promising present, bright future

At 29-6 and ranked 14th in Class 3A heading into the playoffs, the Brock girls basketball team has a lot to like about its present. 

After finishing second to No. 6 Peaster in District 8-3A, the Lady Eagles will open the postseason Monday night with a bi-district matchup against Wichita Falls City View (22-10) in hopes of making a run in a brutal Region I-3A bracket.

But as laser focused as BHS coach Alex Stephenson and his team are on accomplishing the goals they’ve set for this season, it’s hard not to peak ahead to a future that could be even brighter. With a nine-player roster that features three freshmen and three sophomores to go with their three seniors, the Lady Eagles have much to look forward to as well. 

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by Yale Youngblood, Special to Big Country Preps

FEATURE: No. 2 Jim Ned girls hoping to ride near-sighted approach to long-term goals

As Jim Ned coach Hunter Cooley peers into the figurative rearview mirror at his team’s perfect 14-0 run through District 6-3A and looks ahead to a challenging collection of prospective Region 1-3A playoff opponents, there’s a completely different focal point he’s emphasizing with the Lady Indians.

It can be described in three words: the next opponent. 

No matter what Jim Ned has done before, and what the Lady Indians might be able to do in the future, Cooley has learned in two-decades-plus at the school that the only game that matters on the schedule is the upcoming one. And he has made that the team’s mantra as it prepares to open postseason play on Monday against Llano.

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by Evan Ren

THIS WEEK IN BIG COUNTRY GIRLS BASKETBALL: Playoffs open with multiple bi-district matchups worth looking at

The second season has arrived. 

The Texas high school girls playoffs will get underway Monday and Tuesday with bi-district play. And as always, dozens of Big Country teams are taking part in the dance, which will conclude at the UIL State Tournament in San Antonio beginning on Thursday, March 2. 

With that, let’s take a look at some of the top early matchups involving area teams. And don’t forget to click the link at the bottom of the page which will take you to our pairings list. 

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Stamford girls stop Cisco in District 10-2A tiebreaker behind 28-point night from Applin

CLYDE — Having split their two regular season meetings and ending in a first-place tie, it was time for the Cisco and Stamford girls basketball teams to settle the issue on Friday in a District 10-2A tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed. 

By night’s end, it was Stamford leaving the Clyde gym with the league title, behind a 28-point effort from Laylonna Applin in a 58-52 win. Deavine Hoadley tossed in 11 points and Lainee Lefevere added 10 more to help the Lady Bulldogs improve to 29-4 overall. 

Cisco (25-7) was led by Brooklyn Hurtado with 14 points and Brayley Brunson with 10.  The Lady Loboes were hurt by 15 Stamford steals and more than 20 turnovers, yet still managed to give themselves a shot at winning the game in the fourth quarter.

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Top-ranked Glen Rose girls lock up district title with win at Stephenville to open doubleheader sweep

STEPHENVILLE — You know you’re having a good season, when half of your losses to date are to the top-ranked team in the state.  As unusual as that may seem, it is presently the case for the Stephenville girls (29-4, 6-2 District 6-4A), who fell for the second straight time this year to Glen Rose, losing 45-23 on Tuesday at SHS. 

The game opened a varsity doubleheader, which saw the Glen Rose boys complete a two-game sweep in the nightcap, dropping the Yellow Jackets 56-31. 

Despite the loss, the ninth-ranked Stephenville girls retain the No. 2 seed heading into postseason play.  The SHS boys (12-17, 2-4) can still lock up a playoff seed with a win over Mineral Wells on Friday. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME REPORT: Cooper boys win thriller at Coronado; Lady Coogs see season end

Photos by Dayton Wood, HubCityPreps.com

LUBBOCK — Trailing 50-48 with 12.8 seconds remaining, the Cooper boys basketball team put the game in Jaelyn Rivera’s hands. And as he has done so many times before, the standout forward came through for the Cougars.

The senior took a pass just beyond the midcourt line with time winding down, dribbled to the 3-point line, shook two defenders and drained the game-winning shot with 1.8 seconds remaining to lift Cooper to a dramatic 51-50 road win.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Wylie boys come through with huge home win over Lubbock Cooper

The Wylie boys basketball team entered Tuesday’s home matchup with Lubbock Cooper tied with the Pirates in the win column and needing a victory to maintain its hopes of claiming playoff spot out of District 4-5A.

Fueled by a packed Senior Night crowd, the Bulldogs played like a team on a mission.

After allowing the first bucket of the game, Wylie responded with a 16-2 run and never trailed again in blasting Cooper 75-55.

The win, the Bulldogs’ fourth in their last six games, improved coach Gregg Ruffin’s team to 13-17 overall and 5-6 in District 4-5A — a half-game ahead of the Pirates (16-14, 4-6) and 1½ games ahead of Abilene High (11-16, 3-7) for the fourth spot in the league standings.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Wall sweeps Merkel in District 6-3A twin bill

The Merkel Lady Badgers entered Tuesday’s regular season finale knowing the stakes were clear: beat Wall and get a seeding game with the Lady Hawks or enter the postseason as the No. 3 seed out of District 6-3A.

Wall, meanwhile, knew that a win locked them into the No. 2 seed and would allow a week of rest before starting the postseason.

In the end, it was the Lady Hawks who used a strong defensive effort, including holding the Lady Badgers scoreless for more than 12 straight minutes in the first half, to take a 37-19 win at Badger Gym.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Big first half fuels Hawley boys past Cisco, to top of District 10-2A standings

HAWLEY — Hosting Cisco with sole possession of the District 10-2A lead on the line, the Hawley boys basketball team rode a dominant first half to a 65-51 win Monday at Bearcat Gym. 

The Bearcats outscored the Loboes 31-13 in the first 16 minutes and stretched their lead to 19 points on two occasions in the third quarter before holding off a furious Cisco rally over the final quarter and a half. 

The victory, which followed a 60-41 Cisco win in the girls game, improved the Bearcats (10-4 overall) to 8-1 in 10-2A play, while the Loboes fell to 19-6 on the season and 7-2 in district action. That gives Hawley a one-game lead on CHS and Albany (11-3, 7-2) with three league games remaining.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Eula’s Gray tops 1,500-point mark, claims this week’s award.

Eula’s Clayton Gray, our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 4, earned the accolade on two fronts. Not only did he post big numbers in consecutive wins over Moran and Rising Star, but he also reached an impressive milestone in the process. 

To begin with, the junior guard chalked up 29 points, six boards and four blocks in a win over Moran. He also tallied 43 points, eight boards and four steals in a win over Rising Star.

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by Daniel Youngblood

SIGNING DAY: Six Cooper athletes celebrate college decisions during weather-postponed ceremony

Six Cooper athletes made their college commitments public Monday during a Signing Day ceremony at Cougar Gym that was rescheduled from last week due to the winter storm that whipped through Abilene and most of the state.

Surrounded by family, friends, teammates and coaches, five CHS football players — quarterback/athlete Chris Warren, receivers Malik Jackson, D’Andre Ralston and Cam Herron and defensive back Michael Ramis — joined girls basketball standout Karrigan Parrott in announcing the universities for which they will continue their athletic careers collegiately.

Warren and Ralston are both headed to Hardin-Simmons, while Ramis will also stay local and compete at McMurry. Herron will join that trio in the Division III ranks at Trinity in San Antonio, while Ramis will play NAIA football for Arizona Christian University. 

Parrott, the lone girls athlete to participate in Monday’s ceremony after fellow basketball player Kyla Speights (Texas Wesleyan) and volleyballer Skyla Stark (Hill College) announced commitments earlier, will head east to compete at the next level for DIII Texas-Dallas in Richardson.

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by Evan Ren

THIS WEEK IN GIRLS BASKETBALL: With the regular season coming to a close, things are beginning to heat up

With the regular season ending on Tuesday, our annual postseason adventure is about to begin, with playoff action set to begin by next Monday.

Of course, the end of this week will offer multiple tie-breakers, as always, most of which have yet to be determined. But some of those possibilities offer what may be some of the best basketball games we’ve seen this year, as they always do.

At any rate, it’s time to dive into this week’s action, along with a peek at the top games from last week. 

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Peaster sweeps Brock in varsity doubleheader to lock up one district title and nearly clinch another

BROCK — What began as an exciting evening for Brock boys and girls basketball on Saturday ended their archrival spoiling most of the potential fun. 

Having two opportunities to throw the District 8-3A races into turmoil, Brock was dealt consecutive defeats in a varsity doubleheader, falling 73-30 in the girls game and 50-44 on the boys’ side.

Had the Brock girls won, the Lady Eagles would have forced a first-place tie with Peaster in District 8 with two games to go. Instead, the Lady Greyhounds locked up the district title by creating a two-game lead. They now own a tiebreaker over Brock, having won both meetings with BHS. 

The Brock boys faced a similar situation: down a game to Peaster with a chance to grab a piece of first place. They are now trailing the Greyhounds by two games with four games remaining with the tiebreaker in Peaster’s favor. Therefore, Peaster would have to lose three of its final four games to open the door for the Eagles — a highly unlikely scenario for a team which will enter next week at 23-5 and 10-0 in district play. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Cooper girls ride near perfect first half to crucial Senior Day win over Lubbock High

Facing off with Lubbock High in a game they needed to win to maintain any hope of reaching the playoffs, the Cooper Lady Cougars put forth their best effort of the year Saturday afternoon at Cougar Gym.

Playing with the sense of urgency one might expect in a must-win game, coach Brandon Hudson’s squad scored 45 first-half points and stretched 21-point halftime lead to 30 in the third quarter before closing out a 67-48 Senior Day victory.

The win improved Cooper to 20-13 overall and 4-7 in District 4-5A play, pulling the Lady Cougars within a game of LHS (21-13, 5-6) with one game remaining on the district schedule. That sets up another must-win Tuesday at Lubbock Coronado, and potentially another after that should the fourth-place Lady Westerners fall as expected to top-ranked Lubbock Monterey.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Sweetwater boys stymie Snyder for big road win; Lady Tigers take care of Lady Mustangs

SNYDER — With both the Snyder and Sweetwater boys basketball teams riding waves of momentum into Friday’s District 5-4A showdown, fans packed the Snyder gymnasium expecting to see a thrilling encore to the first matchup between the teams, which saw the Tigers take a 40-38 win on a layup at the buzzer.

Unfortunately for those on the home side of the gym, the Mustangs had different plans.

Coming in on a two-game winning streak after an 0-4 district start, including a 61-60 victory over Levelland on Thursday, Sweetwater stifled Snyder for four full quarters, building a 23-point third-quarter lead on their way to a 40-27 win over their rival.

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by Evan Ren

AREA SIGNEES LIST: Stanaland, Lawson among the area’s top signees

With Signing Day 2023 in the books, the Big Country will be placing several of its athletes on college campuses across the country, including multiple Division I signees. 

Headlining this year’s group are Jim Ned lineman Gage Stanaland, who has inked a Letter of Intent with Oklahoma State University and Breckenridge defensive lineman-fullback Jerry Lawson, who will be playing football right here in the Big Country with Abilene Christian University. Lawson is one of three Breckenridge athletes who will be heading to DI institutions, the others being Sean Cooksey and Chase Lehr.

Stanaland, a 6-foot-5, 290-pounder, originally committed to Navy and received offers from UTEP, New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech. Texas A&M and Baylor were showing interest but never offered. However, Oklahoma State suddenly entered the pursuit late in the game and convinced him to become a Cowboy. 

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by Evan Ren

FEATURE: Cox leads Coahoma into important district weekend

It’s a big weekend for Isabella Cox and the Coahoma girls basketball team. 

The Bulldogettes need to spring a couple upsets starting Friday night against Wall and following with Merkel the next day to have a chance at the postseason. 

A year after leading Coahoma to its first district title since 2008, Cox and the Bulldogettes have faced more than their fair share of adversity this winter. 

UIL realignment landed Coahoma into a district with three ranked teams in No. 2 Jim Ned, No. 14 Wall and No. 19 Merkel. To make matters more challenging, Cox sprained her ankle and was forced to miss multiple district games. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Lubbock Coronado too much for Abilene High in doubleheader sweep

Playing Lubbock Coronado in a game delayed two days by inclement weather, the Abilene High boys basketball team saw a sluggish start doom its hopes of a District 4-5A upset Thursday in a 68-54 loss at Eagle Gym.

The Eagles trailed 9-2 less than three minutes into the game and never fully recovered in falling to 11-15 overall and 3-6 in league play.

After the Mustangs’ lead reached a game-high 21 points (37-16) late in the second quarter, AHS rallied to pull within 10 in the third. But that was as close as coach Justin Reese’s squad would get as Coronado pushed its lead back to 20 points by the 1:27 mark of the third and was never threatened again.

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by Evan Ren

Big Country Girls Basketball Statistical Leaders (through Feb. 2): Scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, FT Pct., pass deflections and blocks

Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country girls basketball through Feb. 2.

This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the regular season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.

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by Yale Youngblood, Special to Big Country Preps

FEATURE: Cauthen sisters coming up big for young Eula Lady Pirates

With Eula storming through District 13-1A play with a 7-0 record (and a 21-9 mark overall), the 16th-ranked Lady Pirates are a living testament to the notion that, sometimes, Plan B can come in pretty handy.

Consider that when the year started, coach Josh Fostel was blessed with a nice mix of size and athleticism. The team had the potential to score inside and outside, and, because the coach’s name is Fostel, everyone who has followed Eula basketball knows that it was going to play solid defense.

Then the season started, and “size” suffered a knock-down blow. 

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