And for the second year in a row, it wasn’t the host team that left Joe Lombard Gymnasium the happiest.
For the second straight year Saturday afternoon, Tascosa and Canyon hooked up in the tournament championship game in a final tune-up before beginning or resuming district play. It turned out the same as it did last year, with Tascosa scoring a close win, rallying in the fourth quarter to take the lead and holding on to win 49-43 to make yet another statement.
While it’s always tough for an opposing team to come in and beat a tradition-rich program like Canyon, second-year Tascosa coach Chris Sumrall seems to be making it old hat. It was his second win over the Lady Eagles on their homecourt in as many tries, which is two more than a lot of other coaches who’ve had a lot more tries.
Last year, the Lady Rebels (17-4) beat Canyon 48-46 in overtime to win the championship. This year’s game didn’t have quite that level of drama, but Sumrall enjoyed it just as much, especially considering the limited travel compared to other pre-district tournaments.
“I like staying home but I like having a really good game right here, and Canyon’s so good,” Sumrall said. “Defensively I thought we were pretty good. We had one possession pretty late where I thought we were a little shaky, but to have that resiliency down there, I really liked it.”
Davaeh Johnson led the Lady Rebels with 10 points in the first half. Tascosa outmuscled Canyon underneath at both ends of the court, but the Lady Eagles clamped down defensively in the second quarter to keep things close.
Canyon (15-5), ranked No. 10 in Class 4A, appeared primed to put on a typical run to start the second half and take control of the game. The Lady Eagles eventually took the lead midway through the quarter, going up by as many as five, and led 35-31 at the end of three.
That’s generally the point at which Canyon’s opponents tend to wilt. However, Tascosa appeared undaunted by the poor second half start.
“It was about four minutes into the third quarter before we finally scored,” Sumrall said. “We kind of struggled a little bit there. You’re going to have nights like that and that was us tonight. We weren’t great offensively, but that had a lot to do with (the Lady Eagles).”
Tascosa eventually took the lead 38-37 on a layup by Aniyah Brackens, and never trailed again. Still, the Lady Rebels could never get completely comfortable, as the final margin was their biggest lead of the second half.
Johnson finished with a game-high 19 points for Tascosa, while Brackens had 11, nine of them in the fourth quarter.
Kambrie Graser was the lone Canyon scorer in double digits with 11 points. Jaylee Moss, who had 16 points and four 3-pointers in Friday’s 45-16 rout of Round Rock McNeil, was held to nine points and one three.
“They amped up their pressure a little bit and we didn’t execute the way we wanted to,” Canyon coach Tate Lombard said. “They’re a very hands-on physical team and in those moments we’ve got to do a better job of getting a good shot. We’ve played a lot of good teams during tournament season and now we’ve got a few days to learn from this game.”
Tascosa 16 24 31 49
Canyon 8 20 35 43
T– Davaeh Johnson 19, Aniyah Brackens 11. C– Kambrie Graser 11, Jaylee Moss 9. Records: Tascosa 17-4; Canyon 15-5.
