BY GALEN WELLNICKI
Dave Campbell’s Texas Basketball Magazine has hit area newstands and the third-annual edition of the publication has picked the eighth-ranked Georgetown Lady Eagles as the favorite in District 19-5A.
Coach Rhonda Farney’s Lady Eagles, who reached the Region III-5A finals last season, are expected to top a 16-game district race that the publication also predicts will advance Rouse, Cedar Park and East View to the 128-team 5A state playoffs.
Hutto, Pflugerville Connally, Bastrop Cedar Creek, Bastrop and Elgin are forcecast to round out the final standings in the nine-team alignment.
Discussing the Lady Eagles, the magazine said, “Georgetown will be very inexperienced at the guard spot but talented and very deep overall. This is a team that despite being young will have great leadership under legendary coach Farney.”
The magazine also features a half-page Lady Eagles’ advertisement with a picture that includes 14 players in this season’s program — Kylie Ellsworth, Ali Isbell, Josie Weirich, Samari O’Brien, Gracie Speer, Emili Harris, Maddie Vickers, Graci Harris, Jaelyn Knight, Jade Smith, Emery Herman, Mackenzy Mouton, McCall Hampton and Hailey Smith.
Instead of making its own rankings, Campbell’s publication is using the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches preseason listings.
The playoff representatives from District 19-5A will be play their counterparts from 20-5A in bi-district. Texas Basketball Magazine predicts that the top four teams from that eight-team grouping, in order, will be Tomball Memorial, Waller, Tomball and Magnolia with Magnolia West, Brenham, Huntsville and Willis completing the final standings.
GHS bested Memorial in last season’s regional quarterfinals, 47-31.
The magazine has the following prediction of playoff teams, in order, from the rest of Region III-5A:
17-5A: Ennis, Lindale, Jacksonville, Nacogdoches (Corsicana, Whitehouse).
18-5A: Bryan Rudder, College Station, Temple, Bryan (Waco University, Waco, College Station A&M Consolidated).
21-5A: Defending regional champion and state semifinalist Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill, Dayton, Crosby, Humble Kingwood Park (New Caney Porter, New Caney, Humble, Baytown Lee, Conroe Caney Creek, Splendora).
22-5A: Beaumont Ozen, Lumberton, Beaumont Central, Livingston (Port Arthur Memorial, Vidor, Port Neches-Groves, Nederland).
23-5A: Manvel, Galveston Ball, Fort Bend Elkins, Texas City (Fort Bend Willowridge, Pearland Shadow Creek, Fort Bend Marshall, Santa Fe, Galena Park).
24-5A: Houston Madison, Houston Northside, Houston Furr, Houston Sterling (Houston Austin, Houston Waltrip, Houston Wisdom, Houston Milby, Houston Sharpstown).
No players from District 19-5A are listed among the state’s top 100 seniors and top 50 juniors.
Two familiar names are on the publication’s girls super team, including preseason Player of the Year — 6-foot-4 senior Charli Collier of Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill. The other is Liberty Hill’s 6-7 senior Sedona Prince, a second-team choice. Both ladies are committed to the University of Texas.
Collier, who was picked as Street & Smith’s preseason prep player of the year for the upcoming season, and her Barbers Hill teammates downed GHS in last year’s Region III-5A finals, 55-43, in Houston.
The 272-page magazine, which is priced at $9.95, covers Texas colleges along with “in-depth coverage of more than 3,000 boys and girls high school teams.”