Gruver’s Bailey Maupin scored 18 of her game-high 22 points in the second quarter to lead the No. Lady Hounds past San Saba 69-29 in a UIL Class 2A state semifinal on Friday at San Antonio’s Alamodome. [David Olmos/ For Press Pass Sports]
The No. 1-ranked Gruver Lady Hounds made an emphatic statement taking care of business in a huge way absolutely blasting San Saba 69-29 in the UIL Class 2A state semifinals on Friday morning in San Antonio’s Alamodome.
With Amarillo High falling to Frisco Memorial during a Class 5A state semifinal late Friday night, Gruver is the lone remaining Texas Panhandle girls team left standing. The Lady Hounds (32-0) advance to play for their second state championship in three years when they play Stamford (36-2) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
“It’s such a big deal for our team and this community to be back to the state championship,” Gruver head coach Trent Lankford said. “This is where our girls have expected to be. They are focused, and determined to accomplish what we started. We have a really tough one with Stamford, but we’ll be ready.”
The Lady Bulldogs held off Martin’s Mill 68-64 on Friday in their semifinal.
Gruver exploded putting the game to rest in the final minute of the first quarter. With the game tied, 8-8, the Lady Hounds took complete control closing out that final minute on a 5-0 run taking a 13-8 lead. The onslaught continued into the second quarter, behind Texas Tech signee and Gruver senior Bailey Maupin. Under the bright lights of the Alamodome, Maupin shined leading her team on an 18-2 run to put Gruver comfortably up 26-10. Maupin knocked down two second quarter 3-point shots, had breakaway layups off steals and hit free-throws scoring 16 of her 18 first half points in the second stanza.
“Bailey has ability to take over at anytime,” Lankford said. “She got really active on defense, and then started hitting shots. When she or anyone on our team gets hot, we just keep feeding them. But Bailey was so impressive.”
Thanks to Maupin’s effort and a smothering Lady Hounds defense, Gruver outscored San Saba 26-8 in the second alone to lead 39-16 at half.
With her future Lady Raider head coach, Krista Gerlich in attendance on the front row, Maupin was more than impressive finishing with 22 points on 6-of-13 shooting, 3-of-4 from downtown and a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. Maupin also dished out five assists and had three steals.
Teammate Camryn Armes was in double-digits pouring in 11 on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.
Gruver’s defense did its job forcing into 18 turnovers, 14 of those steals, and outscoring San Saba 28-3 on points off turnovers. Gruver never allowed the Armadillos a second chance point, and shot 23-of-43 (50 percent) from the field, including 15-of-16 from the line.
“Our defense is what kickstarts our offense,” Lankford said. “We got off to a slow start, but our created turnovers and that got us rolling.”
For a look at the full boxscore, please visit the link.
https://www.uiltexas.org/files/athletics/state-basketball/boxscores-girls/22gb2as1.htm
