2013 R3 5A Final 4

I saw some of the Bellaire kids last night at the HBU versus Texas State game, they were there to support former Cardinal Raven Burns who is at Texas State. I had a chance to speak with AJ "The Real Deal" Alix and told her good luck and that goes out to all the kids because one more time people, "I could care less who wins"

PRESEASON PICKS

One thing I do know is she will be ready, when you drop 40 in the area finals and almost take your team to state as a freshman, plus given a nickname right after you leave elementary school by myself, expect the unexpected and that ties in to you never know.

I'm sure the smart money was on Manvel not losing a third time to Clear Springs, who also have a young lady I gave a nickname to as well prior to middle school, Brooke "The Chosen One" McCarty

GPR will be there but before you go the main story, click on the link above and observe how I broke my picks down before the season started as we enter the F4 and as usual....., read more

SCHEDULE

Boyce adds another chapter to Rosehill Christian career

It has been a busy career for Jordan  Boyce and looking back on it after Rosehill Christian defeated Baytown Christian in the first round of the TAPPS 3A playoffs.48-32, you just have to let everything set in. For the numerous all this or that selections she's made, whether it as all tournament, all district or all state, what she has accomplished over her career is somewhat mind boggling

She's led all of TAPPS in threes for the past three seasons, in fact she made 129 as a sophomore which was good enough to be 5th in the nation and I'm talking all high school girls. With that being said, it's no surprise she's the all time leader for the Eagles with over 350 and still counting as their season is still going on

She also broke the school scoring record and has close to 2300 points as I type, this includes several 30 plus point games which included one game in which she dropped 10 long ones, finishing with 36 points. I know what you're thinking, she can just shoot the three. Well her best game was 41 points and she scored only one three pointer in that one, so you get an idea on what she's capable of doing on the offensive end.

This week, Boyce was named district MVP and after scoring 22 points in that round one victory, add two more long threes to the record. Next up, Bay Area Christian and as always, Boyce will be ready for the challenge

Lamar Consolidated ready for #1 Georgetown

Lamar Consolidated is making their first F-4 appearance and they have to face  TABC #1 ranked Georgetown in the second semifinal game at Campbell Center on Friday. Although LC is not among the TABC Top 25, I wouldn't necessarily compare this to a David vs Goliath match-up because LC has an imposing front-line with senior Marleah Palmer and junior Ann Nwosah, not to mention one of the top freshman in the area Quatera Limbrick

Georgetown got here by defeating Barbers Hill on a last second bucket while LC defeated Friendswood 50-42 . With no stats to reference the game, it would be safe to assume Nwosah went into beast mode at some point

Final Four times are set for Friday

Friday at Campbell Center, Connally get's the ball rolling, well bouncing, against Tomball starting at 3:30. Click on the link below for the complete schedule


SCHEDULE 

In case anyone cares

I had a chat with my good friend Bob Corwin from Fullcourt.com yesterday, that's Bob between myself and "Mr. GBB" himself Brandon Clay and Bob picked what little brain I have left about who would advance. With the exception of Mansfield Timberview, I'm looking pretty good,especially since I went 4-4 in my region

As far as R4, I hadn't seen Reagan and even though they were ranked higher than any other team from that region, well I like seeing things for myself. When I saw Johnson with Recee Caldwell, without having to see anyone else I thought they would come out however after reading the box scores without her, those thoughts changed dramatically.

Wagner has looked great and then at times just good and although I saw Steele without Kyra Lambert in the Mansfield Rotary, I figured they might just be the team to beat and apparently they still are

STORY

Despite Carter's heroics Barbers Hill comes up short

As I look back to this past weekend when I saw the elementary school players at the Ganon Baker Camp, it makes me realize how quickly this stuff happens and watching Kimi Carter continue to develop into the silent assassin I predicted she would become after seeing her in elementary school as well. Last season, she started as freshman on a Barbers Hill team that made it to state and this season, they almost made it back to the  R3 F-4 

Carter led the Eagles with 18 points including three free throws to tie the game with less than 20 seconds remaining, talk about pressure however Georgetown went the length of the floor for a lay-up, which they missed, however they rebounded the miss and scored for the 44-42 win.


No one though Barbers Hill would do as well as they did this season, but with Carter and Mackenzie May, who seven threes the previous game, this duo was even more dynamic than I would have imagined

BOX SCORE

Cardinals win a Lulu

As I stated earlier, any 5A game you picked last night was a good one because I truly thought the game between Cy Creek and Bellaire would not have been as close as it was however when you have an inside presence like Iwobi Ikpeaku (21) and Dani Fielder (12) combining for 33 points, you have a shot

The problem is Bellaire is operating with "The Triplets"  which is their trio of guards Lulu McKinney (20) AJ Alix (17) and Angel Williams (13) who continue to be on fire in the playoffs combing for 50 point or 80% of their scoring last night in their 61-56 victory

Fridays match-up against Clear Springs should be a battle, keep in mind the Cardinals defeated the Chargers in the Texas Invitational back in November

Oilers slide by Mustangs

I called Pearland a sleeper before the season as well as one of the top teams in the city and even though they lost some games by some huge margins and came in second in their district, they are among the four teams left still standing after defeating North Shore 54-47. Keara Hudnall led the way for Oilers with 18 points followed by LaNeetra Guillory's 11

The Mustangs were led by Jaylan Robinson's 17 and although North Shore didn't make it to the area F-4, they did exceptionally well considering what they lost last season to graduation, not to mention an injury to Valencia Nelson. Don't feel bad for North Shore as they have the core group coming back next season, not to mention the arrival of 2017 sensation Chastity Patterson

Friday it's the Oilers vs the Spartans of Seven Lakes as my sleepers are wide awake

Another Roher for Clear Springs

They saw it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season but I know several teams that would get beaten 10 or more times by some teams in a season however in this case it works. Manvel faced Clear Springs for the third time this season and came up on the short end again. After losing 63-53 in the Texas Invitational, they lost 54-53 at the Peggy Whitley Classic and last night 62-60, the last two losses on buckets at the end of the game from Clear Springs  Kaylin Roher.

Roher has been spectacular when needed, I’ve done several pieces on her heroics during her career at Clear Springs, click here, and even though she is usually one of the smallest players on the court, she has been one of the biggest under pressure that I have seen since I began paying attention to GBB in what seems like eons ago

Jordan Hosey (23) and Brianna Turner  (17) combined for 40 points as Manvel doesn’t advance to the F-4 after going back to back in 4A however this was a game that should have been the area final, well the same can probably be said for the Clear Springs vs Bellaire if the winner of that game happens to win the final going away. Brooke “The Chosen One” McCarty (29) and Courtney “The Underrated One” Latham (15) combined for 44 points for the Chargers who charge their way into yet another area F-4

Connally edges Central

Kara Balboa and Bria Freeland

This game had me wondering if I should have chose another as it started off sloppy, filled with turnover and missed lay-ups however after watching the battle unfold between Pflugerville Connally's Kara Babola and Beaumont Central's Malena Washington, I knew regardless of how the game ended, I was the right spot.

After trailing 11-10 after one, Washington hit a three to tie the game at 13, this at the 5:50 mark. Ten seconds later, she picked up her third foul however a gutsy move by her coach worked out to a tee and she wouldn't commit another foul the rest of the way

They needed her to even stay close and her back to back threes with less than a minute remaining tied the game at 40 however a Bria Freeland's bucket with a little over a second lft in the game sealed the 42-40 victory. Washington finished with 22 , followed by Rondaysha Thomas who added 12 for Central. Balboa was high for PC with 19. Connally moves on to face Tomball Friday