GHS–CONNALLY2
By GALEN WELLNICKI
Following Georgetown’s 77- 26 victory over 19-5A opponent Pflugerville Connally this past Friday night at Eagle Gym, coach Rhonda Farney had an interesting and positive comment about her state-ranked and district-leading Lady Eagles.
“Hearing the kids after the game talking about having fun tonight was exciting,” Farney said. “At this point in the season, probably only about five percent of the teams playing tonight felt that way. It can become a real grind after you’ve played this many games.”
The 51-point victory improved the Lady Eagles to 9-0 in district and 18-6 for the season and left them with a two-game lead in the loss column over Cedar Park and Rouse at 8-2. A 51-37 loss to Rouse on Friday dropped Bastrop back to 6-4 and East View, coming off its open date, remained at 5-4.
The victory also marked the home return for Farney, who missed the team’s eight-point victory over Cedar Park on Tuesday, Jan. 3, because of emergency eye surgery earlier in the day. She did coach the team at Bastrop Cedar Creek, on Friday, Jan. 6.
“I’m glad to be back,” Farney said. “It took everything I had to stay away that night. I wasn’t extremely sick, but I stayed home and listened to the game on HSN. I felt I might be a distraction if I showed up and we had everything worked out for my absence with the coaching staff and players.
“It was only the second game I’ve missed in 42 years. I missed a game against Waco in 1995 with the flu.”
The Lady Eagles will return to action at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Hutto at Eagle Gym and then will travel to Elgin at 7 p.m. Friday. GHS beat Hutto in the opening round 78-19 and downed Elgin, 79-12.
In starting the second round of 19-5A action, Georgetown completed a sweep of the season series with the Cougars by a combined margin of 88 points. The Lady Eagles had won the district opener at Connally on Nov. 29, 81-44. It marked the 11th time this season GHS has held an opponent to 35 or fewer points. It was the sixth time in nine games, GHS has posted a victory margin of 37 or more points.
“Despite a rough start the kids played much better tonight than they did at Cedar Creek,” Farney said. “The kids played with intensity, ran the floor well and shot the ball pretty well at the foul line (20 of 29).”
Two Lady Eagles, who came off the bench, posted career varsity bests. Sophomore Jaelyn Knight scored a game-high 19 points and junior Maddie Vickers pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds. Freshman Emery Herman, a starting guard, had a strong showing across the board with 10 points, five rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Defensively, the Lady Eagles’ pressure forced Connally into a situation where they often had to run down the floor — when they could — and throw the ball at the basket. GHS only allowed eight field goals in 47 attempts, including just three of 16 beyond the arc. Georgetown is holding district rivals to a 26.5 shooting percentage from the floor.
Georgetown only scored four free throws in the first 2:23 of the contest before senior Taylor Elliott ended the field-goal drought with 5:37 left in the opening period. A bucket by Herman with 4:02 left in the first period ignited a drive in which the Lady Eagles outscored Connally, 34-11, over the final 12 minutes of the first half to make it 41-14.
GHS upped the margin by outscoring the Cougars, 19-7, in the third quarter. The Lady Eagles’ largest lead was the final 51 points.
Knight was joined in the double-digit scoring column by 15 points from Dee Day, 12 by Brooke Elliott, who hit three of four treys, and Herman with 10. Day also had six rebounds and four assists and B. Elliott had four assists.
GHS shot 51 percent from the floor and took a 40-19 edge on th boards.
Only four Connally players scored and none produced more than eight points. It was the seventh time that the Lady Eagles held an opponents’ leading scorer to single digits.
In sub-varsity action, both the GHS JV and Freshman Blue remained undefeated in district play witdh one-sided victories as the three Lady Eagles teams posted a combined 219-61 margin over the Cougars. The JV won 68-17 and the Freshman Blue took a 74-15 win.
The JV, improving its record in 19-5A to 8-0, outscored Connally, 37-7, in the second half, scoring 22 consecutive points in the third period before the Cougars finally scored in the second half with eight seconds remaining in the quarter.
Freshman McCall Hampton, playing up because of the absence of four regular JV players, scored 13 points as four Lady Eagles scored in double digits — Hailey Wickline 12, Samari O’Brien 10 and Kylie Ellsworth, also up from the freshmen ranks, 10.
Even without two of its top players the Freshmen Blue improved to 9-0 in district and 15-1 for the season. Mercedes Robledo topped the scoring with 16 points and Hailey Smith adding 15 with Kiena San Miguel and MacKenzy Mouton putting in 13 and 12, respectively.
The Freshman White played two non-district games this past week, beating Copperas Cove, 29-9, and losing 17-15 to East View. Keyla Perry had 10 points for GHS in the win over Cove. The White now stands, 11-6, for the season.
Elsewhere in Region III-5A:
The top four teams in 19-5A will play the top four teams in 20-5A in bi-district. At the midpoint of the eight-team chase, Tomball Memorial (7-0) and Magnolia (6-1) are distancing themselves from the field. Tomball is third at 4-3, but both Brenham (3-4) and Waller (3-4) are hot on the Cougars’ heels. Magnolia West (2-5) and Huntsville (2-5) are still showing some life. Memorial bested Magnolia, 44-35, in theit opening-round showdown on Jan. 6.
College Station, Temple and Bryan Rudder are tied at 5-1 at the half-way point in the seven-team 18-5A race. Bryan is a distant fourth at 3-3. College Station beat Temple, 59-42; Temple beat Rudder, 49-41; and Rudder stopped College Station, 61-57.
At 3-0, Ennis is off to a fast start in six-team 17-5A.
DISTRICT 19-5A GIRLS BASKETBALL
Standings — Georgetown, 9-0; Cedar Park, 8-2; Rouse, 8-2; Bastrop, 6-4; East View, 5-4; Pflugerville Connally, 3-7; Hutto. 2-8; Bastrop Cedar Creek, 2-8; Elgin, 1-9.
Friday’s results — Georgetown 77, Connally 26; Rouse 51, Bastrop 37; Cedar Creek 44, Hutto 30; Cedar Park 90, Elgin 54. Bye –East View.
Tuesday’s games — Hutto at Georgetown, 7 p.m.; East View at Rouse, 7 p.m.; Bastrop at Cedar Park, 7 p.m.; Elgin at Cedar Creek, 7 p.m. Bye — Connally.
Friday’s games — Georgetown at Elgin, 7 p.m.; Cedar Park at East View. 7 p.m.; Cedar Creek at Bastrop, 7 p.m.; Connally at Hutto, 7 p.m. Bye — Rouse.
OTHER KEY REGION III-5A DISTRICTS
(Districts 19-5A could face in opening rounds of the playoffs)
17-5A — Six-team district just starting 10-game race, Ennis (17-7) is 3-0 (Ennis beat Whitehouse, 53-22 on Friday).
18-5A — College Station, 5-1; Temple, 5-1; Bryan Rudder, 5-1; Bryan, 3-3; Waco, 2-4; Waco University, 1-5; College Station A&M Consolidated, 0-6. Friday’s results — Temple 58, Bryan 32; Rudder 72, A&M Consolidated 58; Waco 46, University 36. Bye — College Station.
20-5A — Tomball Memorial, 7-0; Magnolia, 6-1; Tomball, 4-3; Brenham, 3-4; Waller, 3-4; Madnolia West, 2-5; Huntsville, 2-5; Willis, 1-6. Tuesday’s results — Tomball Memorial 41, Tomball 34; Magnolia 58, Brenham 38; Huntsville 61, Magnolia West 58; Waller 57, Willis 38.
FRIDAY’S DISTRICT 19-5A GAMES
At Eagle Gym
Varsity
GEORGETOWN 77, PFLUGERVILLE CONNALLY 26
CONNALLY (26) — Ayreona Justice 3-13 1-1 8, E’Nisha Fowler 0-10 4-7 4, Daijahna Hardy 0-1 0-0 0, Tierra Leyanna 0-1 0-0 0, Favour Unegbu 0-1 0-0 0, Alexus Mitchell 0-2 0-0 0, Avery Willis 3-3 0-0 7, De’Andra Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, Keiondra Jones 2-11 2-2 7, Chelsea Guerra 0-1 0-0 0, Miller 0-0 0-3 0, Jeanna Washington 0-2 0-1 0, Totals: 8-47 7-14 26.
GHS (77) — Brooke Elliott 4-5 12-2 12, Josie Weirich 0-4 2-3 2, Taylor Elliott 3-7 3-6 9, Jaelyn Knight 7-9 5-6 19, Maddie Vickers 2-3 2-3 6, Emery Herman 3-7 4-5 10, Dee Day 7-10 1-1 15, Emily Jones 1-7 2-3 4. Totals: 27-52 20-29 77.
Halftime: GHS, 41-14. 3-point shooting: PC 3-16 (Justice 1-5, Fowler 0-3, Unegbu 0-1, Willis 1-1, Jones 1-5, Miller 0-1); GHS 3-8 (B. Elliott 3-4, Weirich 0-3, T. Elliott 0-1). Rebounds: PC 19 (Justice 4, Leyanna 4); GHS 40 (Vickers 14, Day 6, Knight 5, Herman 5). Assists: GHS 23 (Herman 6, B. Elliott 4, Day 4). Steals: GHS 19 (Day 4, Herman 4, T. Elliott 3, Knight 3, Vickers 3). Blocks: PC 1 (Jones); GHS 1 (Day). Turnovers: GHS 9. Total fouls: PC 19, GHS 13. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none. Records: Connally, 3-7 in 19-5A, 7-18; Georgetown, 9-0, in 19-5A, 18-6.
Sub-Varsity
(GHS scoring only)
District
GHS JV 68, PFLUGERVILLE CONNALLY JV 17 — Ali Isbell 5, Samari O’Brien 10, Hailey Wickline 12, Kylie Ellsworth 10, Miranda Gil 9, Jade Smith 9, McCall Hampton 13. Halftime: GHS, 31-10. GHS record: 8-0 in 19-5A, 12-3.
GHS FRESHMEN BLUE 74, PFLUGERVILLE CONNALLY FRESHEMEN 15 — Hailey Hanson 2, Hailey Smith 15, Maya Perry 8, Kylee Sander 8, Mercedes Robledo 16, Keianna San Miguel 13, MacKenzy Mouton 12. Halftime: GHS 39-8. GHS record: 9-0 in 19-5A, 15-1.
Non-District
GHS FRESHMAN WHITE 29, COPPERAS COVE 9 — Carolina Horton 3, Tatianna Williams 1, Na’Keia Cook 5, A’Brielle Abrams 8, Celeste Valdez 0, Marney Hazell 2, Sueellen Albrecht 0, Rachel Heine 2, Keyla Perez 10, Madison Rincon 0. Halftime: GHSD, 14-5. GHS record: 11-5.
EAST VIEW FRESHMEN B 17, GHS FRESHMEN WHITE 15 — Horton 9, Williams 0, Cook 2, Abrams 2, Valdez 0, Hazell 0, Albrecht 0 Heine 0, Perez 0, Rincon 1. Halftime: EV, 12-8. GHS record: 11-6.