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Best of the Best: A look back at District 8-5A girls basketball
BY Matt Welch and Kevin Hageland, Staff Writers
The past two years were a special time for the athletics wing of the Plano, Allen and Lewisville ISDs.
In joining forces under the District 8-5A umbrella, Plano East, Plano Senior, Plano West, Allen, Flower Mound, Flower Mound Marcus, Lewisville and Hebron combined for 28 UIL State Championships, many more state tournament or state meet appearances, a laundry list of all-state selections and an environment as competitive as any in the state.
As a way of paying homage to the past two years of district play, The PSC will be running a retrospective series highlighting five of the best games played within 8-5A for football, volleyball, boys basketball, girls basketball, boys soccer, girls soccer, baseball and softball.
"There were a lot of good coaches in this district," said Don Patterson, West head coach. "Every game was tough and you had to be ready to play every game you stepped out onto the court.
"We were very fortunate to come out on top most of the time."
Within district action, rivalries breathed new life and teams struggling to so much as break the .500 plateau posed just as great a threat as an opponent eying a playoff spot.
"In this district, you had so many so many good teams and it always seemed to be such a close race for the playoffs," said Lynn Meger, Plano head coach. "It always seemed like one game ... heck, one quarter, could make the difference."
Here's a look back on the highlights (in chronological order) of the past two years.
Plano West defeats Flower Mound, 45-44
Jan. 10, 2011
Unforeseen as it may have been, the Lady Jaguars' youthful exuberance provided for one of the stiffer tests for the eventual 8-5A champs.
Despite having won its first five district games by an average margin of 22.2 points, West trailed Flower Mound after each of the first three quarters before narrowly denying the Lady Jaguars the road upset.
"[Flower Mound] played really well and did a great job knocking down some shots," Patterson said. "We weren't and just barely pulled that one out. It was a close game the whole way."
The Lady Jaguars received 13 points from Ashley Deary and 10 from Nicole Smallwood, with the tandem combining for 14 of Flower Mound's 24 first-half points en route to a 24-18 halftime advantage.
Behind, 35-34, entering the fourth quarter, West's Kiran Lakhian began the frame with a 3-pointer to reclaim the lead. Despite yielding four turnovers, the Lady Wolves would go on to eke out the victory -- led by 13 points and seven rebounds from Rachel Wilson plus nine points from Paige Womack.
The Lady Jaguars had one last chance to answer the call, but a corner 3-point attempt by Smallwood fell shy to keep the Lady Wolves' unbeaten 8-5A record intact.
Plano East defeats Plano West, 55-53
Jan. 21, 2011
In two years, West went 27-1 in district play.
That one belongs to the cross-town rival Lady Panthers, who mustered a series of late heroics to stun the Lady Wolves on their home floor.
"At one point, I realized it was all on [our players]," said LaGwenna Morrow, East head coach. "The energy and rivalry of it all was what powered them to go and secure the win. It wasn't so much coaching at that point."
East was tasked with rallying back from as many as seven points in the fourth, with a 3-pointer by Celina Eddins helping draw the Lady Panthers back to just a 53-50 deficit.
That margin was trimmed to one after Jasmine Caston sunk a circus shot from the free-throw line with 90 seconds left. The Lady Panthers weren't done yet, forcing a West turnover inside the final 30 seconds and clearing the way for an eventual and-1 conversion down the baseline by Caston that gave East a 54-53 lead with 3.2 seconds left.
Caston went on to sink the free throw to equate the final margin, finishing the game with 17 points, five rebounds and three steals.
"It's a sense of pride," Morrow said. "I think we actually lost our next two district games after that because we were still on a high from that win. When you have a team like Plano West who is down as far as talent goes, they're still up.
"It means a lot when you beat a team like that and gives you a standard of where you are among the best."
Flower Mound Marcus defeats Plano Senior, 43-40
Jan. 28, 2011
Though little was spoken about it beforehand, both Plano and Marcus knew the likely implications riding on this game.
"Obviously you don't want to tell the girls to look ahead or anything like that," Meger said, "but I knew ... I knew ... that if we beat Marcus we would get that final playoff spot."
For three quarters that looked like a given.
Plano established a six-point lead after the first quarter and grew that advantage to 36-26 heading into the final frame.
That's when Marcus and Sierra Bone took over.
"The team pulled together and did what they needed to do," said Pamela Owens, former Marcus head coach, after the game. "That was a huge game for us."
That Lady Marauders, paced by a game-high 15 from Bone, outscored the Lady Wildcats in the final frame, 17-4, and took the lead following a 3-pointer from Bone with two minutes remaining. Plano's Allison Chu had a 3-point attempt in the final seconds to force overtime, but her miss finalized the 43-40 Marcus win.
"We could compete, we showed that all year," Meger said. "But we had trouble closing out that season and the Marcus game was a prime example. And I knew as soon as we lost that game that we were in trouble because of the ones we had ahead of us."
Meger was right.
This win was the first of four straight for Marcus and the first of four straight losses for Plano, pushing the Lady Marauders ahead of the Lady Wildcats and into the playoffs.
"You lose that one game, especially one where we had a big lead, and it can completely change your confidence and motivation," Meger said. "Unfortunately, that game served as a tough swing for us."
Allen defeats Plano East, 49-47
Dec. 20, 2011
For a squad clad in youth and inexperience, games like this road upset at East saw the Lady Eagles grow up a bit.
Allen wasn't tasked with overcoming any sort of insurmountable deficit or star-making performance from the opposition. All the Lady Eagles had to do was stay the course and give themselves a chance in the end; a template they followed to a T.
"We had a really young bunch at the time," said Sean Weibling, Allen head coach. "Around then, I think we really started to develop some confidence in our ability to groove together. It was all starting to click around that December and heading into district."
The Lady Eagles never trailed by more than four points and kept the Lady Panthers on their toes up until the final possession. There, Anna Horowitz fed Gracie Doane at the elbow, who proceeded to draw her defender in the air and clear the way for the go-ahead layup that broke a 47-47 tie with 10 seconds left.
"Gracie was still figuring out her role on the team and what she could do for us," Weibling said. "From my standpoint, we defended them really well; that sticks out in my mind and how well we limited them to one shot."
The Lady Panthers' last-ditch heave fell short, as Allen secured its first 8-5A win of the 2011-12 season in dramatic fashion.
Flower Mound defeats Lewisville, 69-56
Jan. 27, 2012
While neither Lewisville nor Flower Mound qualified for the playoffs last season, each team's offensive punch provided plenty of excitement for fans and troubles for their 8-5A counterparts.
Never was that on display more than this late-season shootout.
"I just remember the first half being back-and-forth the whole way," said Sherika Nelson, Flower Mound head coach. "Each team seemed to have an answer every possession. We came out shooting lights out, but Lewisville stayed right there. It was a real run-and-gun type of half."
Flower Mound eventually settled for a 38-35 lead at the break, one of the highest-scoring halves in district the past two seasons.
The Lady Jaguars opened the contest by converting 7-of-10 from 3-point range.
"I would think that was our best shooting half," Nelson said. "I remember Nicole (Smallwood) got us out to a good start and then Ashley (Deary) just took over. She had to have been close to a triple double, and really played well in the second half to help us pull away. She was creating off the dribble and I remember her getting to the basket for multiple and-1s in the third quarter."
Deary finished with a district-high 30 points to go with seven steals, six rebounds and six assists. Smallwood chipped in 16 and the Lady Jaguars recorded 15 assists on 24 field goals.
A short-handed Lewisville was led by double-double performances from Makayla Roberson (15 points and 16 rebounds) and Monisha Neal (14 points and 14 rebounds).
Justin Thomas contributed to this story
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