Amarillo High‘s Lacey Rice (23) goes up for a shot against Frisco Memorial’s Joslyn Burton (10) during a UIL Class 5A state semifinal at San Antonio’s Alamodome. [David Olmos/ For Press Pass Sports]
A lot of the elements which helped the Amarillo High Lady Sandies reach their third Class 5A state tournament in the last five years were in place during the state semifinal Thursday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Problem was, they worked in Frisco Memorial’s favor.
After taking a halftime lead, Amarillo High seemed in good position to reach a third state championship game since 2018. But it was Memorial which had the big start to the second half this time, taking control of the game in the third quarter and not letting up for a 59-48 victory.
The loss ended Amarillo High’s season with a 32-6 record. Memorial (37-5) will play in its first ever state championship game Saturday at 3 p.m. against undefeated defending state champion Cedar Park, who beat College Station 59-31 in the other semifinal.
Amarillo High shook off a slow start by closing the first half with a 7-2 run to take a 26-23 halftime lead, as Taytum Bell and Mckenzie Smith closed the half by scoring back-to-back baskets. That seemed to bode well since the Lady Sandies had been strong in the second half recently in the playoffs, breaking open games which were close at halftime against Lubbock Cooper in the region quarterfinals and Lake Dallas in the region finals with dominant third quarters.
But the third quarter in this case belonged to Memorial. The Lady Warriors grabbed the lead late in the period by scoring seven straight points, five of them by Falyn Lott and by the end of the quarter led 40-35, and never looked back.
Another difference this time came in rebounding, an area where the Lady Sandies had been strong most of the season. However, Memorial outrebounded them 33-22.
Smith led Amarillo High with 14 points. Senior Briley Barnes, who has signed with Tulsa, ended her career by scoring 13 points and led the Lady Sandies with eight rebounds, while Bell had 10 points.
Jasmyn Lott dominated for Memorial with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds. Falyn Lott had 13 points and Brynn Lusby scored 10.For full boxscore please visit the link below. https://bit.ly/35NeLleAmarillo High 11 26 35 48Frisco Memorial 13 23 40 59AHS— Mckenzie Smith 14, Briley Barnes 13, Taytum Bell 10. FM— Jasmyn Lott 24, Falyn Lott 13, Brynn Lusby 10. Records: Amarillo High 32-6; Memorial 37-5.