Nazareth claims regional championship once again
The Nazareth Swiftettes are one game away from competing for an unprecedented 26th state championship.
Nazareth took control early in the first half and never looked back downing Texline 54-35 to win the Region I-1A Division II championship Thursday night at a packed Amarillo High Activity Center.
The Swiftettes (27-9) are now headed to familiar territory to battle Jayton (25-12) in the Division II state semifinals at 7 p.m. Monday night at the Rip Griffin Center on the campus of Lubbock Christian University.
“This is huge,” Nazareth head coach Eric Schilling said. “Winning state in 2023 feels like such a long time ago. We graduated seven seniors from last year and I don’t know if many people thought we could get back. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a team that was so close to one another. They all celebrate each other. They are easy to cheer for because they do things right.”
The Swiftettes got off to a strong start going up 13-5 at the end of the first quarter. In the second, Nazareth sustained that momentum with hot shooting and strong defense going in at halftime up 16. Nazareth kept its foot on the gas in the second half never allowing the Lady Tornadoes opportunities to make a push.
“Texline was tough,” Schilling said. “We didn’t know what to expect. We wanted to have a big first quarter and we did that. We were able to get the ball inside and knock down the shots we needed to. Anytime we can do that is big time.”
Brooklyn Birkenfeld was a menace for Texline scoring 23 points including eight in the fourth quarter. Teammate Kambri Cleavinger finished with nine and Jolee Pigg had seven.
Texline’s Jada Clay tallied a team-high eight points. The Lady Tornadoes finish a tremendous season at 22-9.
Farwell earns first regional championship in 25 years
For the first time in a quarter of a century, the Farwell Lady Blue are headed to the state semifinals.
It wasn’t easy by any means, however, Farwell was able to hold off Clarendon 46-40 down the stretch in a very good Region I-2A Division II showdown at a jam-packed Bushland Gym on Thursday night.
Farwell (28-8) is a regional champion since winning a state title in 2000 and will now get set for a state semifinal showdown with tradition-rich Lipan (25-11) at 6:30 p.m. Monday night at Moody Coliseum on the campus of Abilene Christian.
“This means world to this team,” first-year Farwell head coach Joe Crabb said. “We have a very veteran team with five seniors, and they’ve been locked in ready to go. They lost in the regional title last year and they’ve been determined since then. We did what we had to do and beat a heck of a team in Clarendon.”
Farwell threw the first punch closing out the final three minutes of the second quarter on an 8-0 highlighted by a Bella Jaime 3-pointer and a Jaime and one. The Lady Blue pushed that advantage to double-digits in the third quarter, only to see the Lady Broncos respond with three straight 3-balls by Kashlyn Conkin. With that hot streak from Conkin and tough play inside by Madison Shaw allowed the Lady Broncos to cut the Farwell deficit to 35-32 midway into the fourth.
That was as close as Clarendon could get back into the game as the Lady Blue picked up clutch free-throw shooting from Landri Richey down the stretch to hold on for the victory.
“We had to calm down in the fourth quarter,” Crabb said. “Give Clarendon credit they battled and started making shots. We ended up calming down and getting the job done.”
Richey had a great outing scoring a game-best 22 points for Farwell with nine of those coming in the closing eight minutes. Jaime and teammate Makylee Baldwin each added nine.
Shaw led Clarendon with 12 points as the Lady Broncos end a great year at 30-7.
Panhandle pummels Ozona to win Region 1-2A Division I title
The Panhandle Ettes are playing like a team on a mission with no signs of slowing down.
For a second straight game, the Ettes were able to cruise in a postseason game this time rolling over Ozona 62-32 to win the Region I-2A Division II championship Thursday night in Post.
Like they did in a beating of Ballinger on Monday, Panhandle jumped all over Ozona with a fast start going up 21-7 at the half. Panhandle didn’t hesitate to put the game away from that point going up 27-14 at the break then finishing the game off in the third quarter taking a commanding 46-20 advantage.
“The first quarter scoring was the biggest difference us,” Panhandle head coach Rob Schmucker said. “We jumped out and scored 21 points that got us going. We slowed down in the second quarter, but we were able to pick it back up in the second half.”
Standout guard Riley Segura did her part scoring a game-high 19 points. Avery Cathey registered 13 with teammate Ann Garrison providing a spark in the third quarter finishing the game with 10.
Panhandle (32-3) is now headed to the state semifinals for the fifth time since the 2016 season. The Ettes will face off with Nocona (30-6) at 6 p.m. Monday at Breckenridge High School.
“This group is special, and not just on the court,” Schmucker said. “To get back to the state semifinals with them means all the hard work, many hours, and tough practices paid off. They are a group that brings joy to our community, and they are so fun to watch play. Getting to the state semifinals means their names will be on the wall in the Panther Gym.”
San Jacinto Christian advances back to TAPPS state semifinals
The San Jacinto Christian Academy took care of business Saturday downing Victory Christian Academy 41-32 in a TAPPS Class 2A regional game at the Bobcats Gym in Childress.
The Lady Patriots (33-6) punched a ticket back to the TAPPS state tournament for a third straight year and will now matchup with First Baptist Academy Dallas at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at University High School in Waco.
SJCA got a big lift in Saturday’s win from Siscely Mincher and Harlie Brabham with the duo combining for 23 points. Mincher had a game-high 12 as Brabham followed with 11.
Second half slump dooms Canyon in loss to Decatur
In the second half against No. 4 Decatur, the No. 5 Canyon Lady Eagles got a taste of what they’ve done to so many opponents over the years in their legendary postseason successes.
This time, it meant their run ended in the Region I-4A Division I championship game.
After leading by eight points at halftime, Canyon ran into a defensive brick wall in Decatur, who shut down Canyon in the second half and took the lead for good late in the third quarter. Despite never falling behind by further than seven points, Canyon never found the rhythm offensively and fell 42-37 to see its season end at Childress.
Canyon finished the year 30-5 while Decatur (34-5) advances to next week’s state semifinals.
The game seemed to go according to script for Canyon in the first half. Canyon led by as many as 10 points early in the second quarter as the Lady Eagles used their customary stifling defense to hold Decatur to four points in the first quarter. They led 23-15 at halftime.
Decatur, though, took control of the game early in the second half, throttling Canyon offensively and scoring the first 12 points of the half to take a 25-23 lead. Canyon went back up 28-26 on a pair of free throws by Jaylee Moss, but that would be Canyon’s final lead.
When freshman Sayler Peck scored on a putback before the end of the quarter, Decatur led 32-30 and was in front the rest of the way.
Decatur led 40-33 with 2:14 left when Canyon’s Sydnee Winfrey converted a three-point play and made one of two free throws to cut it to three points. However, Canyon was unable to make a field goal the rest of the way.
Winfrey was Canyon’s lone double-digit scorer with 14 points. Decatur freshman Style Brazlie had a game-high 15 points.
Tascosa falls to Denton Ryan in defensive struggle
After surviving a defensive slugfest earlier in the week to advance, the Tascosa Lady Rebels got involved in another one in their Region I-5A Division I final against Denton Ryan at Vernon on Friday evening.
Unfortunately, this one had a different result for the Lady Rebels.
In a game where offense was tough to come by for both teams, No. 3 Tascosa and Ryan were tied after three quarters. Ryan’s size wore down Tascosa in the end, as the Lady Raiders had a relative offensive explosion with 16 points in the fourth quarter to send the Lady Rebels home with a 38-28 loss.
It was the second straight season that Tascosa (32-5) got at least as far as the region semifinals.
If nothing else, the Lady Rebels showed defensive toughness the last two rounds of the playoffs. In Monday’s region semifinal game against Aledo, Tascosa survived a 36-29 verdict.
It was more of the same against Ryan (30-7), which advanced by beating Tascosa’s crosstown rival Amarillo High 62-57.
Tascosa led 17-16 at halftime, an indication of how defensive-oriented the game was. At the end of the third quarter, it was tied at 22 and a potentially thrilling finish where every possession was crucial seemed imminent.
The Lady Raiders, though, found some offense, scoring the first six points of the quarter to take the lead for good. Tascosa’s Davaeh Johnson hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 28-25, but Ryan scored the next 10 points to grab the momentum back for good.
Alex Carter led Tascosa with 12 points and Johnson had eight. It was an indication of the intense nature of the game that Tascosa coach Chris Sumrall didn’t substitute for any of his five starters the entire game.
Ryan had only four players score, but three of them were in double digits. Kaylin Jackson had 12 points and Kinley Lewis and Jamyla Anderson scored 10 each.
Jim Ned downs Dalhart
The Dalhart Lady Wolves saw a tremendous season come to an end to a very talented Jim Ned squad falling 44-33 during the Region I-3A Division I championship game Friday night at Lubbock-Cooper Liberty High School.
The first half was the difference in the game with Jim Ned coming out fast to a 30-10 halftime advantage. Kammi Maddox led the Lady Wolves with 13.
Dalhart ends the year at 30-7 overall. The Lady Indians (33-2) are headed to the state semifinals to battle Winnsboro (35-3). The 30 wins was a school record for the program, and it was the first trip in school history to a regional title game.