A Cardinal win: Strong second half propels John Paul girls to school's first-ever TAPPS title

MANSFIELD -- The first half of Saturday's TAPPS 5A State Championship Game had an eerily similar feeling to it for the John Paul II girls basketball team.

Exactly one year removed from the night in which the Lady Cardinals' offense went ice cold in a state semifinal loss to Ursuline, the shots betrayed John Paul yet again early on Saturday.

But unlike the nightmarish end to 2012, the Lady Cardinals weathered an early shooting slump and made school history by becoming the first John Paul team to capture a TAPPS State Championship after defeating Argyle Liberty Christian, 46-39, from Mansfield Legacy.

"It's huge for these kids," said Mike Martin, John Paul head coach. "This is a long season and having to teach these kids a brand new system is always a challenge. The kids bought in early and then bought in completely midway through and were committed to what we were doing."

Battling Liberty for the third time this season, John Paul had outscored the Lady Warriors by a combined margin of 30-14 in the fourth quarter in its two prior wins. That trend held form Saturday.

Although Liberty struck first on a pull-up jumper from Sydney Goodson for a 32-31 lead with 6:03 to play, the Lady Cardinals fired back with a 3-ball from senior Kindell Texada.

Junior Arabella DeAngelis added five points, including a corner 3-pointer, to improve John Paul's lead to 41-35 and with 57 seconds to play, Texada brought the championship within arm's reach after scoring an and-one off an inbounds pass for a 44-36 lead that evoked an emphatic fist-pump from the point-forward.

"When we hit that play, I think that was the sign that it was ours," Texada said. "... Every emotion came through my body and I just let it out right then."

Goodson knocked down a 3-pointer with 35 seconds to go to make it a two-possession game at 44-39, but junior Claire Ricketts iced the win after a pair of free throws with eight ticks remaining.

"Those free throws felt so good," Ricketts said. "Those are the shots you have to make and the shots that you work for. The free throw's the easiest shot in basketball and on the bench, they told us that if we made ours that we'd win."

A victory proved anything but a certainty early on though, as John Paul managed to overcome its lowest first-half scoring output all season. Through two quarters, the Lady Cardinals made just three shots from he field and although it was enough to cling to a 6-5 lead after one quarter, Liberty's Hannah Hand took charge in the second stanza to score eight of her team-high 15 points and helm a 16-11 Lady Warriors lead entering halftime.

"It was the whole deal of why are we waiting until our last game of the season to play out of our character," Martin said, "and if we were strong enough mentally to get back into this game. Our girls decided that they were."

With Ricketts facing foul trouble for much of the second half, Texada assumed control and scored 15 of her game-best 21 points over the final two quarters.

"Coach told me that I was our best player and that I had to step up and not fold when my shot wasn't falling," Texada said. "I felt like I was rushing the game in the first half; I was trying too hard to make the game come to me and not relaxing.

"Once we all finally did that, thing's started to go in left and right."

Adding four steals to that total, Texada scored nine points in the third quarter alone, canning a 3-pointer for a 19-18 Lady Cardinals lead with 4:37 left and a slashing lay-in for a 21-20 edge 30 seconds later.

The Lady Warriors answered each Texada warning shot however, as part of a third quarter that featured seven lead changes. The last one belonged to John Paul though, as a partially blocked trey attempt from Texada fell right into the waiting arms of senior Kelsey Sweeney, who beat the buzzer with a lay-in for a 31-30 lead after three quarters.

"We finally got control of the tempo," Martin said. "I think that was definitely to our advantage and we were taking and hitting good shots in the second half."

DeAngelis and Sweeney played pivotal parts in that, respectively scoring 10 and eight points and grabbing a hoard of key rebounds down the stretch. Ricketts added seven points, six boards and three blocks in the win as John Paul -- making its third straight trip to the state tournament -- assured the third time was indeed the charm in its quest for the program's first-ever state championship.

Texada, Sweeney and Ricketts earned spots on the TAPPS 5A All-Tournament Team, as the Lady Cardinals capped their championship season with an overall record of 26-11.

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