“It wasn’t one of our better games, but we made big shots when we needed them, rebounded and forced some turnovers,” Coach Rhonda Farney said Monday night after her ninth-ranked Georgetown Lady Eagles knocked off Marble Falls, 52-37, in a Region III-5A bi-district game at Liberty Hill. “I’m glad we did come out with the win,” she added after the victory over the fourth-place finisher from District 17-5A, which completed its season with a 14-19 mark.
The victory improved the Lady Eagles to 23-10 and advanced them into a 6:30 p.m. Friday battle with District 19-5A runner-up Magnolia West (25-7) at Hearne High School. The Lady Mustangs earned their second-round berth on the strength of a 72-38 victory over Tomball, the third-seed from 20-5A, on Tuesday night. The Georgetown-West winner will advance to the Region III-5A quarterfinals against either District 17-5A champion Cedar Park, now 30-3 after beating Manor by six in bi-district, or Bryan Rudder, the third-place team from 19-5A. That game will be played at 7 p.m. Friday at Cameron Yoe. Rudder advanced past Kingwood Park, 59-53, in bi-district. The regional quarterfinal will be played either on Monday or Tuesday. The victory over Marble Falls extended the Lady Eagles current victory streak to 10 games. GHS hasn’t lost since returned from its holiday tournament trip to Tennessee. Senior captain Jaelyn Knight had a slightly more positive evaluation of the Marble Falls victory than her coach.
“We did really good,” said the 5-foot-11 Knight, who led all scorers with 17 points, “It was a little rough at times, but we executed when we need to.” However, both Farney and Knight agreed that the Lady Eagles would have to step up their game against a Magnolia West team that would have won the 19-5A title if it hadn’t had to forfeit three district games because of an ineligible player. The Lady Eagles held the Lady Mustangs to just 12 successes in 39 attempts from the floor, including just three of 18 beyond the arc, posted a 37-21 edge on the boards, recorded 21 steals and made a monster block on a Marble Falls’ shot attempt by senior post Jade Smith.The Lady Mustangs did lose forward Daijah Torns with a leg injury early in the contest.
Returning all-district post Trinity Boyd led Marble Falls with 13 points. The Lady Eagles did hold standout Lady Mustangs point guard Rylie Ulbricht to three points as she missed all of her eight shots from the floor. Kendall Ulbricht was Marble Falls’ No. 2 scorer with nine points on all three of her team’s successful 3-point attempts. Farney did say that she wished the Lady Eagles had been able to further limit the effectiveness of Boyd and Ulbricht. Georgetown built a 10-point edge at 12-2 with 2:46 remaining in the first quarter and never let the lead fall under six points. The Lady Eagles led 17-11 after the first quarter, 28-18 at the half and 41-28 after three. GHS’ largest lead was 16 points — four times in the second half. For Georgetown, sophomore point guard Graci Harris and McCall Hampton followed Knight in the scoring column with 11 points each. Hampton topped the rebound chart with 12. Knight also had six steals and Samari O’Brien and Kylie Elsworth were credited with five assists each. The Lady Eagles shot 40 percent from the floor (19 of 47, but made only 4 of 14 on three-pointers).In other bi-district games with 18-5A teams, East View beat Rouse, 35-30, and Hutto was shelled by state-ranked Pflugerville, 80-46. East View is scheduled to play 19-5A champion College Station at 6 p.m. Friday in Giddings (see all Region III-5A pairings below).
PLAYOFF NOTEBOOK: Seven of the 16 bi-district games in Region III-5A have to be considered blowouts of 23 points or more. The biggest victim was the Houston ISD. Its four playoff reps Northside, Madison, Sterling and Waltrip scored a total of 102 points — 48 of those by by Madison — and lost by a combined total of 220 points.Probably, the most-notable surprise in Region III-5A was pulled by Crosby, the fourth-place team in 22-5A. The Cougars upended 21-5A champion and habitual playoff fixture Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill, 73-70.
The biggest girls basketball news this week may have been off the court and centers around current Duncanville and former Austin Westlake head coach Cathy Self-Morgan. Quoting a Dallas Morning News Sports Day HS article in Wednesday’s edition by Greg Riddle: “UIL state executive committee chair Mike Motheral has ordered Duncanville ISD athletic director Dwight Weaver to conduct an investigation into potential recruiting violations by Duncanville girls basketball coach Cathy Self-Morgan, one of the winningest high school coaches in U.S. history.
“Motheral told Weaver last Wednesday that he and his staff have one month to complete an investigation of Self-Morgan, who has won eight state championships, including five at Duncanville . . .”‘We have a text stream . . . that points to Coach Self-Morgan potentially being involved in some recruitment,” Motheral told Weaver in a video from the state executive committee meeting that was posted on NFHSNetwork.com. “There will be a very thorough investigation …’ “The complete article is available on the Dallas publication’s web site.
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MONDAY’S REGION III-5A BI-DISTRICT GAME
At Liberty Hill High School
GEORGETOWN 52, MARBLE FALLS 37
MARBLE FALLS (37) — Gia Lemon 1-2 0-0 2, Kendall Ulbricht 3-9 0-0 9, Daijah Torns 1-1 0-0 2, Rylie Ulbricht 0-8 3-6 3, Ellie Herrington 0-4 0-0 0, Emma Holcomb 2-3 2-2 6, Kacie Jordan 0-5 2-2 2, Khloie Maldonado 0-0 0-0 0, Trinity Boyd 5-7 3-9 13. Totals: 12-39 (30 percent) 10-19 (52 percent) 37.
GHS (52) — Maya Perry 0-0 0-0 0, Kylee Sander 1-3 0-0 2, Ali Isbell 1-4 0-0 3, Hailey Smith 0-0 0-1 0, Samari O’Brien 2-3 2-2 6, Kylie Ellsworth 1-6 0-0 2, Graci Harris 3-7 2-2 11, MacKenzy Mouton 0-1 0-0 0, Jaelyn Knight 7-13 3-5 17, Jade Smith 0-1 0-5 0, McCall Hampton 4-9 3-11 11, Alicia King 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-47 (40 percent) 10-19 (52 percent) 52.
Halftime score: GHS, 28-18. 3-point shooting: MF, 3-18 (K. Ulbricht 3-9, R. Ulbricht 0-2, Herrington 0-3, Jordan 0-4); GHS, 4-14 (Isbell 1-4, O’Brien 0-1, Ellsworth 0-3, Harris 3-6). Rebounds: MF 21/7 offensive (K. Ulbricht 5, Holcomb 5); GHS 37 /11 offensive (Hampton 12, Knight 5, Ellsworth 4, Harris 4). Assists: GHS 15 (O’Brien 5, Ellsworth 5, Knight 3). Steals: MF, 8 (Boyd 3); GHS, 22 (Knight 6, Sander 4, O’Brien 4, Harris 3). Blocks: MF, 1; GHS, 1 (J. Smith 1). Turnovers: MF, 25; GHS, 21. Total fouls: MF, 16; GHS, 17. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none. Records: Marble Falls, 14-19; Georgetown 23-10. Officials: North Texas Chapter.
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BI-DISTRICT 18-5A VS. 17-5A
Monday’s Results
Georgetown 52, Marble Falls 37
East View 35, Leander Rouse 30
Pflugerville 80, Hutto 46
Cedar Park 53, Manor 46
REGION III-5A BI-DISTRICT
(In bracket order)
Waller 52, Huntsville 46
Pflugerville 80, Hutto 46
College Station 63, Willis 40
Georgetown East View 35, Leander Rouse 30
Manvel 82, Houston Northside 18
Friendswood 42, Port Arthur Memorial 32
Pearland Shadow Creek 91, Houston Madison 48
Galveston Ball 60, Port Neches-Groves 44
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Georgetown 52, Marble Falls 37
Magnolia West 73, Tomball 38
Cedar Park 53, Manor 46
Bryan Rudder 59, Kingwood Park 53
Baytown Goose Creek Memorial 79, Dayton 33
Richmond Foster 67, Houston Sterling 17
Crosby 72, Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill 70
Fort Bend Hightower 82, Houston Waltrip 19
REGION III-5A AREA PAIRINGS
(In bracket order)
Waller vs. Pflugerville, 7:30 p.m. Friday, A&M Consolidated, College Station.
College Station vs. East View. 6 p.m. Friday, Giddings.
Manvel vs. Friendswood, 7 p.m. Thursday, Alvin High School.
Pearland Shadow Creek vs. Galveston Ball, 6 p.m. Thursday, Santa Fe High School.
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Georgetown vs. Magnolia West, 6:30 p.m. Friday, Hearne.
Cedar Park vs. Bryan Rudder, 7 p.m. Friday, Cameron Yoe High School.
Goose Creek Memorial vs. Richmond Foster, 5:30 p.m. Friday, Delmar Gym, Houston.
Crosby vs. Fort Bend Hightower, 7 p.m. Thursday, LaPorte.
CLASS 5A STATE RANKINGS
TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF BASKETBALL COACHES
(Released Monday, Feb. 11)
(Records through Feb. 9 provided by TABC)
Class 5A
- Mansfield Timberview (34-1). 2. Amarillo (30-4). 3. Kerrville Tivy (32-1). 4. Manvel (33-3). 5. Fort Bend Hightower (33-2). 6. Cedar Park (29-3). 7. San Antonio Veterans Memorial (27-6). 8. Royse City (31-3). 9. GEORGETOWN (22-10). 10. Frisco Liberty (26-10). 11. Frisco Lone Star (24-8). 12. Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial (29-5). 13. Pflugerville (24-10). 14. Austin Crockett (31-5). 15. Lubbock Cooper (26-5). 16. Birdville (25-7). 17. Richmond Foster (30-7). 18. College Station (31-4). 19. Corpus Christi Flour Bluff (26-5). 20. Corpus Christi Tuloso-Midway (26-5). 21. Lufkin (26-5). 22. Mansfield Legacy (25-8). 23. Dallas South Oak Cliff (22-9). 24. Wylie East (22-10); 25. El Paso Andress (29-4).
TEXAS GIRLS COACHES ASSOCIATION
(Released Monday, Feb. 11)
(NOTE: TGCA poll reduced from 25 teams to 10 for the playoffs)
Class 5A
- Mansfield Timberview. 2. Amarillo. 3. Kerrville Tivy. 4. Cedar Park. 5. Fort Bend Hightower. 6. Royse City. 7. GEORGETOWN. 8. Manvel. 9. Lufkin. 10. El Paso Andress.