With a mixture of physicality, finesse, speed and size, the Chaparral Lady Bobcats put together the ideal opening act to their playoff run and lifted history high over their heads Monday night.
Relentless and hyper-focused on the task at hand from the start of their Class 5A bi-district playoff, the Lady Bobcats rolled past Magnolia, 64-41, at Cameron Yoe High School to become the first team during Chaparral High School’s brief existence to win a postseason game.
Savoring the moment, the Lady Bobcats lifted a gold ball trophy after the final buzzer, each player getting a hand on the prize before jumping in unison and posing for pictures.
“They were excited for this one tonight. You don’t get opportunities like this all the time,” said Chaparral head coach Kiara Marshall, whose team one week ago claimed the school’s first team league title in Year 2 of the program. “That’s what I told them, and they were just ready to go.”
The Lady Bobcats certainly were ready to go against the Lady Bulldogs (15-17), the fourth seed from District 21-5A, and they never really stopped through a fast-paced 32 minutes.
Even with a large lead late in the fourth quarter, the foot stayed on the pedal, with Ameriah Moore chasing down a Magnolia player, who appeared to be headed for an easy layup, and knocking the ball away with 1:45 to play.
Chaparral went ahead and tacked on three more points for good measure before dribbling out the final 30 seconds.
In a nutshell, it was business as usual.
“It’s something we’ve been doing this whole year. Since the summer we’ve been working really, really hard,” senior Julissa Weeks said. “We were really prepared. We watched film on them and everything, and we just did what we always do –– just execute.”
Driving to the hoop in a half-court set or sprinting ahead of the defense and receiving a pass from the back court, Chaparral junior Jerriyah Baines lived at the rim and posted a team-high 26 points –– that showing after she poured in 27 points in the District 22-5A title-sealing win against Lake Belton last Tuesday.
Chazlyn Dettor made her presence felt in the paint, scoring 14 of her 17 points in the first half for the Lady Bobcats, who also got 12 points from Ivy Powell, five points from Moore, and maximum effort up and down the lineup from everyone else.
Emma Rowan paced Magnolia with 25 points. No other Lady Bulldogs player reached double figures.
“We knew that we had the size advantage. And in our transition game, we knew we had the advantage there,” Marshall said. “I told them if we can get those two things right, we’re going to be fine going into the game.”
Magnolia took a 4-2 lead in the first 2 minutes of the opening quarter. That’s when Chaparral took over. The Lady Bobcats led 16-4 after the first, in the midst of scoring 23 straight points for a commanding 25-4 lead midway through the second quarter. It was 35-12 by halftime and 51-29 going to the fourth.
The Lady Bulldogs were as close as 53-41 after a Rowan 3-pointer midway through the last quarter. The Lady Bobcats countered by scoring the final nine points to wrap up the victory and kick-start the celebration.
“It was really fun because it was the first time that we’ve all done this before,” Weeks said. “And as a second-year team it’s, like, crazy to be doing this.”
No. 16 Chaparral (26-6) next plays No. 20 Georgetown (27-6), the runner-up in 23-5A, in the area round at 7 p.m. Friday at Liberty Hill High School.
“It feels great. These kids have worked really hard for that,” Marshall said. “We told them it’s gold ball season, and we are trying to get another one.”
Montgomery Lake Creek 45, Shoemaker 40
After clawing their way into the playoffs by defeating the Waco Lady Lions in the regular-season finale and again in a play-in game last week, the Lady Grey Wolves nearly upset top seed Montgomery Lake Creek from 21-5A on Monday night at Hearne High School.
In it from the very beginning, Shoemaker (17-18), the fourth seed from 22-5A, trailed 12-7 after the first quarter and 27-19 at the half.
With 7 minutes to go in the fourth, the deficit was three, 35-32, and stayed that was until 43-40 with 47 seconds to go. Shoemaker couldn’t squeeze its way in front, and Lake Creek closed out the contest.
