By GALEN WELLNICKI
With East View now in the rearview mirror for at least the near future, the 12th-ranked Georgetown Lady Eagles will concentrate on nailing down the District 19-5A championship and the nine-team alignment’s top seeding in the 128-team UIL Class 5A state playoffs.
“It’s a big week coming up,” GHS head coach Rhonda Farney said after Friday’s night’s 51-33 victory over East View on the Patriots’ court. “Winning district always has been our primary goal.”
The Lady Eagles, now 13-0 in 19-5A and 22-6 for the season, have a two-game lead over second-place Cedar Park with three games to play. Georgetown will visit the Lady Timberwolves at 7 p.m.Friday, but first must face third-place Rouse (10-3) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Eagle Gym on Family Night. Rouse is coming off a 55-19 win over Bastrop Cedar Creek.
During first-round action, GHS downed Rouse, 55-38, on Dec. 20 on the Raiders’ hardwoods and bested Cedar Park, 42-34, at home on Jan. 3.
Georgetown will conclude the regular season against Cedar Creek on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
After taking a 12-6 lead in the first quarter, the Lady Eagles ran into a red-hot Diamond Morrison in the second quarter as the Patriots’ junior knocked down all 11 of her points, including three 3-pointers, to cut the GHS lead to 22-19 at the half.
However, the Lady Eagles, getting points from six different players, outscored East View, 16-4, to go up 38-23, in the first 5:47 of the third quarter. The Patriots sliced the lead to 10 at 40-30 wtih 1:02to go in the period, but then with 17 seconds left in the quarter Morrison went down with an ankle injury and was unable to return, shifting most of the offensive load on senior Emily Daniel.
“I think we were a little tight early and Morrison was red shot in the second quarter,” Farney said. “We releaxed as things went along, and we got in her face defenisvely in the second half.”
Georgetown outscored East View, 10-3, in a fourth quarter in which the Patriots did not make a field goal.
Daniel led all scorers with 17 points, but was only able to put down four of 20 shots as the GHS defense limited East View to just 10 field goals in 40 attempts. It was the 12 time in district play that a Lady Eagles’ opponent was held to less than 38-percent shooting from the floor.
Freshman Emery Herman, who got open on several occasions en route to the basket, led GHS wtih 14 pointds, while 6-1 senior Dee Day added 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Lady Eagles made 50 percent of their 32 shots and posted a 32-20 rebounding edge.
The game marked the return of senior point guard Brooke Elliott, who missed this past Tuesday’s victory over Bastrop, with illness. She responded with seven points, three assists, four assists and three rebounds.
The loss put East View (6-7 in 19-5A) in a situation where they probably need to sweep their final three games to force a fourth-place tie with Bastrop, currently 7-7 after ending a five-game losing streak with a 60-46 win over Pflugerville Connally. The Lady Bears will play Hutto and Elgin before taking their bye on the last night of the regular season. Coach Dave Walla’s Patriots will close with games at Connally, at home with Hutto and at Elgin.
If East View and Bastrop tie at 9-7 or 8-8, they will have to play off the deadlocked to determine the district’s fourth playoff representative prior to the certification deadline on Saturday, Feb. 11.
It’s conceivable, but not probable, that the 19-5A champion could face the fourth-place team from 19-5A in the third round of the playoffs.
If Georgetown continues on and wins 19-5A it will play the fourth-team from 20-5A in bi-district. The second-round — or area, if you prefer — contest would be against the winner of a bi-district game between the second-place team from 18-5A and the third-place representative from 17-5A.
The team that advances out of the second round would go into the Region III-5A quarterfinals against the survivor of a four-team grouping that is composted of the winner from 20-5A, the runner-up from 17-5A, the third-place team from 18-5A and the fourth-place finiher in 19-5A.
That winner would move to the Region III-5A Tournament at the Houston ISD’s Delmar Field House and a semifinal battle with a team from Districts 21-5A to 24-5A. The regional finals would match the two semifinal victors for a berth in the UIL State Tournament at San Antonio’s Alamodome.
The UIL playoff schedule is as follows: Bi-district, Feb. 13-14; Area, Feb. 16-18; Regional quarterfinals, Feb. 20-21; Region III-5A Tournaments, Feb. 24-25; UIL State Tournament Class 5A, March 2, 4.
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A look at the playoff picture in Districts 17-5A, 18-5A and 20-5A:
17-5A — Lindale upended Ennis, 55-43, this past Friday to leave the two tied for first at 6-1. Nacogdoches is setting in third at 4-3 with either Jacksonville (3-4) or Corsicana (2-5) in the running for the other playoff spot. Lindale and Ennis have split the season series with Ennis having won the first meeting, 37-36, at home.
18-5A — College Station (9-1), Temple (8-2) and Bryan Rudder (7-2) have clinched playoff spots in the seven-team alignement and just need to settle the final pecking order during the three remaining playing dates in which College Station and Temple each have a bye. The big game remaining of the schedule is Temple at College Station on Friday. Bryan (5-4) needs a win or a Waco loss to claim the fourth playoff slot.
20-5A — Tomball Memorial is running away with the race at 11-0 with three playing dates remaining. Magnolia and Tomball are tied for second at 8-3 and Waller at 6-5 has a two-game edge over Brenham in the race for the final playoff spot a berth opposite the 19-5A winner in bi-district. Magnolia and Tomball have split one-point decisions in district and still face ganes with Memorial down the stretch — Magnolia on Tuesday and Tomball on the final night of the regular season.
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On the sub-varsity level on Friday and Saturday, GHS won the JV game, 63-18; the Freshman Blue claimed a 50-33 victory and the Freshman White took a 35-18 decision.
In the JV contest, Georgetown raced to a 36-8 advantage at halftime en route to the 45-point win and a 12-0 reading in district. Four Lady Eagles finished in double figures with Jade Smith scoring 16. Gracie Speer, Samari O’Brien and Hailey Wickline added 13, 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Freshman Blue improved to 13-0 in district and 20-1 on the season with Kylie Ellsworth and McCall Hampton each scoring 13 and Maya Perry adding 10.
Keiana San Miguel scored 19 points to lead the Freshman White to their 13th victory in 20 games and a 2-2 split of the season series with East View. The White was scheduled to conclude its season on Monday agaisnst Jarrell.
DISTRICT 19-5A GIRLS BASKETBALL
Standings — x-Georgetown, 13-0; x-Cedar Park, 11-2; x- Rouse, 10-3; Bastrop, 7-7; East View, 6-7; Pflugerville Connally, 4-9; Hutto, 4-9; Bastrop Cedar Creek, 4-10; Elgin, 1-13.
Friday’s results — Georgetown 51, East View 33; Hutto 60, Elgin 47; Rouse 55, Cedar Creek 19; Bastrop 60, Connally 46. Bye — Cedar Park.
Tuesday’s games — Rouse at Georgetown, 7 p.m.; East View at Connally, 7 p.m.; Cedar Park at Cedar Creek, 7 p.m.; Bastrop at Hutto, 7 p.m. Bye — Elgin.
Friday’s games — Georgetown at Cedar Park, 7 p.m.; Elgin at Bastrop, 7 p.m.; Hutto at East View, 7 p.m.; Connally at Rouse, 7 p.m. Bye — Cedar Creek.
Tuesday (Feb. 7 games) — Cedar Creek at Georgetown, 7 p.m.; East View at Elgin, 7 p.m.; Cedar Park at Connally, 7 p.m.; Rouse at Hutto, 7 p.m. Bye — Bastrop.
(End of regular season)
X–clinched playoff berth.
OTHER KEY REGION III-5A DISTRICTS
(Districts 19-5A could face in opening rounds of the playoffs)
17-5A — x-Ennis, 6-1; x- Lindale, 6-1; Nacogdoches, 4-3; Jacksonville, 3-4; Corsicana, 2-5; Whitehouse, 0-7. Friday’s results: Lindale 55, Ennis 43; Nacogdoches 45, Corsicana 25; Jacksonville 45, Whitehouse 37.
18-5A — x-College Station, 9-1; x-Temple, 8-2; x-Bryan Rudder, 7-2; Bryan, 5-4; Waco, 2-7; Waco University, 1-8; College Station A&M Consolidated, 1-9. Friday’s results — College Station 67, Rudder 42; Temple 50, Waco 45; Bryan 73, A&M Consolidated 56. Bye — University.
20-5A — x-Tomball Memorial, 11-0; x-Magnolia, 8-3; x-Tomball, 8-3; Waller, 6-5; Brenham, 4-7; Huntsville, 3-8; Magnolia West, 2-9; Willis, 1-10. Friday’s results — Memorial 39, Willis 20; Tomball 40, Brenham 29; Magnolia 46, Magnolia West 38; Waller 54, Huntsville 39.
x–clinched playoff berth.
FRIDAY’S DISTRICT 19-5A GAMES
At East View
Varsity
GEORGETOWN 51, EAST VIEW 33
GHS (51) — Brroke Elliott 3-8 0-1 7, Josie Weirich 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Elliott 0-0 4-4 4, Jaelyn Knight 2-4 1-1 5, Maddie Vickers 1-1 0-0 3, Emery Herman 6-10 2-6 14, Dee Day 4-8 5-8 13, Emily Jones 0-1 5-8 5. Totals: 16-32 17-28 51.
EAST VIEW (33) — Alyson Ashby 1-2 0-1 2, Paighton Corley 0-1 0-0 0, Diamond Morrison 4-8 0-0 11, Jessica Workman 0-3 0-0 0, Emily Daniel 4-20 8-10 17, Anna Steger 0-0 0-0 0, Aiex Stone 0-3 1-2 1, Rocky Saldana 0-1 0-0 0, Lily Brown 1-2 0-0 2, Keely Wallis 0-0 0-1 0. Totals: 10-40 9-14 33.
Halftime: GHS, 22-19. 3-point shooting: GHS 2-5 (E. Elliott 1-4, Vickers 1-1); EV 4-9 (Morrison 3-4, Daniel 1-4, Saldana 0-1). Rebounds: GHS 32 (Day 11, T. Elliott 4, Vickers 4); EV 20 (Workman 4, Brown 4). Assists: GHS 12 (B. Elliott 3, T. Elliott 3); EV 5 (Morrison 2, Brown 2). Steals: GHS 11 (B. Elliott 4, Knight 2, Herman 2); EV 6 (Ashby 3, Daniel 3). Blocks: none. Turnovers: GHS 6, EV 15. Total fouls: GHS 16, EV 20. Fouled out: EV, Corley. Tevhnical fouls: EV, Corley (:51, firest). Records: Georgetown, 13-0 in 19-5A, 22-6; East View, 6-7 in 19-5A, 12-13.
Note: East View stats courtesy of East View Basketball.
Sub-Varsity
(GHS scoring only)
GHS JV 63, EAST VIEW JV 18 — Gracie Speer 13. Morgan Bruning 0, Samari O’Brien 12, Hailey Wickline 10, Shelby Jones 5, Miranda Gil 7, Jade Smith 16. Halftime: GHS, 36-8. GHS record: 12-0 in 19-5A, 17-3.
SATURDAY’S DISTRICT 19-5A GAMES
(GHS scoring only)
GHS FRESHMAN BLUE 50, EAST VIEW FRESHMAN A 33 — Hailey Hanson 0, Hailey Smith 0, Maya Perry 10, Kylie Ellsworth 13, Kylee Sander 5, Mercedes Robledo 7, McCall Hampton 13, MacKenzy Mouton 2. Halftime: GHS, 28-18. GHS record: 13-0 in 19-5A, 20-1.
GHS FRESHMAN WHITE 35, EAST VIEW FRESHMAN B 18 — Caroline Horton 8, Tatiana Williams 0, Na’Keia Cook 7, A’Brielle Abrams 1, Celeste Valdez 0, Marney Hazel 0, Sueellen Albrecht 0. Keiana San Miguel 19, Rachel Heine 0, Madison Rincon 0. Halftime: GHS, 19-7. GHS record: 2-0 in 19-5A (2-2 overall with East View), 13-7.
