The Cooldown- Week 20
Cover Photo via the Dallas Morning News
By the end of this week most metroplex area teams should be done with the first half of their district schedules. That means it’s time for the schedule to flip and for every team to play each other one more time before the playoffs start. Next week the men will know what needs to be done in the second half of the district schedule to make the playoffs while the women tip off the second half of the district schedule this week. Let’s recap some of the best action from around the metroplex last week.
Duncanville defeats Cedar Hill
If you haven’t seen the highlights from Duncanville’s 106-85 win over Cedar Hill on Inside High School Sports, I suggest you check them out. They are linked right below for convenience. Anthony Black starred for Duncanville, finishing with 31 points on 12-of-13 shooting. Black nearly missed a double-double with nine rebounds in the win. Ron Holland put on a show, finishing with 19 points and a flurry of highlight dunks. Davion Sykes also scored 19 points and Duncanville put five players in double figures as Cameron Barnes finished with 11 points and Caleb Jones scored 10 points.
Cedar Hill kept the score as close as it did in large part because Jason Justice dropped a game high 41 points in the loss. Jeremy Watkins scored 16 points and Savon Price finished with 13 points. Derrick Turner chipped in seven points for the Longhorns. Cedar Hill fell behind by 11 points after the first quarter, but it kept it close in the final three quarters.
Plano East defeats Coppell
The Coppell Cowgirls are undefeated no longer. One of the most anticipated games of the week was a showdown between an undefeated Coppell squad and a Plano East team that hasn’t lost a district game since realignment. Something had to give. Plano East hung on to defeat Coppell 42-37 after jumping out to an 18-2 lead after the first quarter. The Plano East lead was 14 points heading to the fourth quarter and a furious Coppell rally came up just short. Donavia Hall led Plano East with 16 points and Ada Anamekwe scored 13 points for the Panthers.
Jules LaMendola carried Coppell with 15 points and Allyssa Potter contributed six points. Saiya Patel also contributed six points for the Cowgirls. The good news for Coppell is the Cowgirls will get another shot at Plano East in a few weeks at home. Rachel Wang could be back for Plano East by that point in time to add some much-needed depth to a banged-up Panthers squad. Round two is sure to be a great game.
Cedar Hill upsets Duncanville
The Cedar Hill women upset No. 4 Duncanville in overtime 81-72 on Friday night. No. 15 Cedar Hill blew a five-point lead with less than a minute left as Duncanville forced overtime thanks to a personal 5-0 run from Kiersten Johnson. Kelis Grant wouldn’t let the upset slip away from Cedar Hill though- scoring nine points in the overtime period. The Longhorns outscored Duncanville 14-5 in overtime for the win.
Nadiyah Cooper led Cedar Hill with 23 points and Jadyn Atchison dropped 20 points. Grant finished with 15 points and Cailan Hale contributed 12 points in the win. Victoria Flores paced Duncanville with 26 points and Tristen Taylor dropped 25 points. Tajenae Gooden contributed nine points in the loss.
Lancaster beats Kimball
Lancaster and Kimball faced off last Tuesday in a highly anticipated matchup. It’s always must-see basketball when these two get together, and last week was no different. It was a back-and-forth affair as Kimball led at halftime, but Lancaster used a strong second half to come out with a 73-65 win. The Tigers trailed 40-34 at halftime before outscoring Kimball 39-23 in the second half for the come-from-behind win.
Micah Clark led Lancaster with 20 points and Kade Douglas added 18 points for the Tigers. Jarod Johnson also scored in double figures with 11 points and Markeis Sykes contributed eight points. Trae Clayton led Kimball in scoring with 20 points and Arterio Morris scored 11 points in the loss. DaCannon Wickware scored 10 points and Landon Hughlett added nine points. These two teams will get together one more time this season- with Kimball hosting the next matchup.
Other News and Notes
The Plano Wildcats are the last undefeated men’s team left standing in the metroplex with a 50-38 win over Flower Mound and a 55-41 win over Plano West last week. Keller remained undefeated in district play after an impressive 72-44 win over Byron Nelson last week. Nine different players scored in the win, led by Sven Verloop’s 15 points, and the Indians limited every Bobcat not named Finley Bizjack (21 points) in the win.
Lake Highlands also remained undefeated in District 7-6A after big wins over Irving Nimitz and Richardson Berkner. The Wildcats will have a highly anticipated showdown this week in district play as Lake Highlands has the first of two matchups with a Richardson squad that is regarded as one of the best teams in the nation. McKinney and Denton Guyer will face off on Tuesday in another highly anticipated district matchup. This will be the first of two meetings between Denton Guyer and McKinney and is crucial for district seeding. Denton Guyer is undefeated in district play while McKinney lost to Allen 70-65 nearly two weeks ago. The Lions will need to win both games to give themselves a good chance to win District 5-6A.
Player of the Week
My Player of the Week is Birdville’s Chase Henderson! Birdville went 2-0 last week in large part to Henderson’s prolific scoring ability. The Hawks beat Denton 93-32 on Tuesday behind 43 points for Henderson- enough points to beat Denton on his own. Birdville then beat Colleyville Heritage 69-65 on Friday as Henderson had to score in clutch time. Henderson finished with 35 points and scored 13 of his 35 in the fourth quarter. On top of all of that, Henderson managed to shoot 70 percent from the three-point line on 20 attempts over the two games.
Cover Photo of Allyssa Potter (Coppell) and Kaitlyn Hong (Plano East) courtesy of the Dallas Morning News.