Mexia battles Kennedale for 3A title

Travanti Downes was impressive when I saw her at Big State Flava with Team Fort Worth, she was impressive with her high school team Kennedale at the Sandra Meadows Classic and she was impressive today over the internet as Kennedale jumped out on Smithsville and cruised to an 87-66 victory. Downes and fellow senior Autumn Williams dropped 22 while junior McKinley Bostad added 20, some from the upper deck

Kennedale will take on a tough Mexia team that beat Krum earlier 50-41 in the championship game on Saturday at 10:00 am. Here is the box score the earlier game

Martin's Mill and Smyer advance in 1A-D1

HAILY JENKINS

Snook outscored Martin's Mill 15-10 in the final quarter to force the game into overtime only to be outscored 11-6 in OT as the Mustangs win 54-49. McNeese State signee Haily Jenkins led the way with 15 points followed by Taylor Munns and Cheyenne Brown, each with 14. Brown and Meagan Weatherfood also had 13 reboinds. Snook was led by Shakera Barnes with 21 and Miya Hoskins with 11

Smyer led Triple A Academy 10-2 after one and withstood a ferocious comeback to hold on and win 40-36. Kennedy Farr led the way with a double-double for Smyer, 21 and 13 followed by Jordan Locke's 17. Triple A had some chances down the stretch but came up short however the future is bright for this talented young team. Amber Browing  had a double-double of her own as she finished with 17 and 10

Martin's Mill vs Smyer on Saturday for the championship. at 8:30 am

SCHEDULE

Watch the action

Is Duncanville better than last season?

We will soon find out as the Pantherettes take on the Chargers of Clear Springs tomorrow. With only a handful of games that weren't decided by double digits, most notable an OT victory at Mansfield Timberview, Duncanville has put together an impressive run, read more

"The Game" and "The Pass"

Whether they get it done or not or Austin, Clear Springs made it and  not only did they make it, they did it with flair and excitement this season playing in one of the greatest games I've witnessed live and also the Lira to McCarty will go down as one of the "raise the roof" passes I've seen

THE GAME



 and THE PASS

Top 100s show "why" during area semifinals

AJ Alix, Christen Inman and Brooke McCarty are all recognized as Top 100 players nationally and over the past weekend anyone who had a chance to witness them for the first time should have come away knowing just that. Although I haven't seen many of the players listed with Alix and Inman out of the 2013 class, a case  could definitely be made for Courtney Latham as well

Alix (TCU) and Inman (Northwestern) closed out their careers with bangs and will do wonders at the next level where I predict a lot of success in a short amount of time as they will have no problems making the transition smoothly. The same can be said for Latham (Tulane) as she get's a chance to go out with a bang in her senior season as Clear Springs will meet Duncanville on Friday.

The 2014 McCarty will have another year as a Charger but she'll get a chance "hook" some Texas fans who might not have had a chance to see her live and in living color and I'm sure they will leave with a last impression

SCHEDULE

BROADCAST INFO

Boyce closes out career with a bang

I bought a high tech camera a few months ago and to be honest with you, I probably could have bought one at a fraction of the cost to do the same thing. I didn't know anything about ISO and aperture settings and although I've learned a little, I'm sure taking a class would tremendously. One thing I don't need to take a class in is spotting talent, I think Dizzy Dean said it best and if you don't know who Dizzy Dean is, that's no problem because you have Google

If you don't know who and where the talent is, you have me, well Girlz Prep Report and let's give Jordan Boyce an A as she closes out her career with five additional threes, giving her a total of over 300 the past three seasons, which averages out to over 100 per season, and finishing her high school career with 369.

Boyce ends this chapter of her career and while she decides on where the next chapter will start at the next level, check out some of the stories, read more

Super weekends ahead for GPR

I'll head up to Austin on Friday and check out the state tournament action through Saturday evening and on Sunday I'll close out the weekend at the Cy Fair Evaluation Camp where I will see some of the established stars from our area along with some of the ones you will be hearing plenty about , like Marissa Banfield, above, and Chastity Patterson, both from the 2017 class

I'll be here, I'll be there but until I learn how to clone myself, I can't be everywhere so make sure you are where I am multiple times

EVENTS

2017 will have an abundance of impact players

An impact player means a variety of things to a variety of people and no other freshman made the impact AJ Alix made when she stepped on the court for Bellaire in her first season. That last game of her initial season was in the area finals against Hightower and she dropped 40 in their 70-64 loss, that's over 60% of the points the Cardinals scored in that game and the bandwagon soon began as "The Real Deal" proved exactly what I had already said years earlier

The 2017 class has some very special players across the state and these young ladies are among them, well except for a 2018 you'll be hearing a lot about as well and many of these players will too make an IMPACT right off the top

Clear Springs road has green light to Austin

Clear Springs has a tough task ahead as they face undefeated Duncanville in the opening game on Friday however if it's one thing they've shown over the past season, it's the fact that they are ready for anything and to be honest, if any team from R3, well from our area, had a chance to defeat the Pantherettes, it would have to be them.

High School Hopefuls put together an awesome video capturing their performance over the past weekend and it's a must see

SMU's Filmore makes milestone

I had a chance to watch C-USA leader SMU against U of H on Sunday and saw a very exciting game between two talented squad. Houston pulled it out but the Mustangs showed how dangerous they are and during the game Alisha Filmore made an elite group, read more

Role players huge for Springs run

If you can remember the Anita Ward song "You Can Ring My Bell" you're a lot older than these kids playing but Rhyshinique Bell has answered many times during her Clear Springs career and although she may not get the pub as some of the other players in the city, she has played a big part in the Chargers starring role in this seasons GPR movie, The 2013 Road to Austin

Alysse Dowdy and Paige Tippett are the first two off the bench and the co-stars have shown the ability to come up huge when needed, read more

Cibolo trying to Steele one for R4

The gap is closing as far as R4 basketball goes and I've talked about the talented players coming out of that region for a few years now. With top or potential Top 100 players in just about every class from Recee Caldwell and Mackenzie Calvert in 2014 down to Caldwell's younger sister Desire (2018) and Deja Kelly (2020) there isn't a lack of talented players in the state and San Antonio is making a statement

2015 star Kyra Lambert has been making a statement since I saw her in middle school, Ray Caldwell get's an assist on that one, at the Ganon Baker Camp I covered in College Station and I knew she had the potential to be a Top 100 player even back then, btw she is. 

My first impression was she played beyond her years and I think I recently commented in a story that when you truly under the concept and you have certain skills at an early age, well it's easy to call

Lambert liked College Station so much that she has already committed to Texas A&M once her high school career is over but that still has a way to go and even though Steele will be facing undefeated Pflugerville late Friday night, I'll be there

SCHEDULE

Boyce on a mission

Rosehill Christian did it again last week as they defeated League City Bay Area Christian to move into the quarterfinals against Round Rock Christian tonight. Jordan Boyce was on fire once again scoring 28 points, including 4-9 from bta, not to mention five steals

I wrote about her adding another chapter last week, link, and she continues to do just that

Cy Fair Evaluation Camp March 3rd

If I had a Most Improved Player award, 2014 Olivia Ogwumike's name would be among those at the top of the list of finalists. She was already a next level player, she was already a D1 player however after watching her performance in district play, where her Cy Woods team lost their first two games, only to turn that around and win it outright, Ogwumike came up huge putting up numbers and making play after play when needed

Not only did Cy Woods win district, the team was only a point away in regulation from making the area F-4, and during that time, Ogwumike's next level status skyrocketed as she added new dimensions to her game

Another dimension is being added to GPR as well as I will watch Olivia along with some of the top players in the state at the Cy Fair Evaluation Camp I'll be covering this Sunday.

Among those players attending will be Olivia's younger sister, 2015 Erica, and their Cy Woods teammate, 6'8 freshman Nancy Mulkey along with San Antonio Johnson's Erica Sanders to name a few

Spots are still available, check out link below

CY FAIR EVALUATION CAMP

Three of GPR 2014 Top 5 make it to state

San Antonio Johnson was the best team from R4 that I saw this season when they came down to Fort Bendt Tournament, of course that was with Recee Caldwell. I was sold on Caldwell the first three minutes I saw her play when she was in middle school and she did nothing but improve over the years. Caldwell and Brianna Turner (Manvel) were in my 2014 Top 5 from the beginning, nothing will change and it's safe to assume the other three are locks as well, read more

Aledo advances to state tournament

I didn't see Alyssa Dry play with Aledo when I made my December journey to the Mansfield Rotary Tournament however I left with a good feeling about the team. Dry, the 2015 star who has verballed to Texas, was under the weather but a storm was brewing as these Bearcats truly didn't hibernate without her, read more

One of the main reasons I was impressed was because of the improvement of sophomore Justis Sczepanski-Beavers, a young lady I first saw at Cy Ridge the prior season. She showed signs of being unstoppable and before it's all said and done, she will do some incredible things as her best basketball is ahead of her. To be honest, she's doing pretty good right now as her double-double of 10/15 helped them get here

Next up, a very impressive Lincoln squad on Thursday

SCHEDULE

Coming up- GPR Top 2014's in state

Even though Manvel didn't make it this year to Austin, they will be on my short list again because the #1 player in the country, Brianna Turner, will be back for yet another run. With that being said, three of the next four top players I have ranked in my GPR 2014 Top 5 are there and although I'm looking at other lists and I see one young lady omitted , her stock continues to rise in my book. That's coming tomorrow!

Pflugerville remarkable run still alive

Okay Pflugerville making it to state has me batting 75% but by beating both Plano West and Dekaney let's me know that are indeed legit. This was the first season in a long time I didn't have a chance to see the Panthers however I'll be in Austin to watch the hometown favorite in action on Friday night as they put their 38-0 record on the line against Cibolo Steele

Let's revisit one of their star players I saw at Big State Flava, Diana Omozee and be sure to watch the video

OMOZEE


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Liberty Christian makes it a step closer to finals

The talented squad from Liberty Christian which are loaded with freshmen have advanced to the TAPPS 5A State F-4 after knocking off Houston area St. Pius. If they make it to the finals, they have to defeat another area team, St Agnes

TAPPS 5A

Kennedale making a statement in 3A

I was truly impressed with Kennedale when saw them at the Sandra Meadows Classic back in December and it's no surprise to me that they made it to the state Final 4. They put together a pretty impressive run at SMC, losing to another team that is also in Austin, Clear Springs, in the 5th place game however that game showed they could compete with the higher divisions.

What's even more impressive is the fact that Texas Tech signee Jamaika Hughes was still out from a knee injury she suffered in the summer. If the name Hughes sounds familiar, it should as she had two older sisters play D1 ball and her dad is the head coach for the Lady Kats. I'll be covering their first game via satellite, well the internet on Thursday as GPR won't make it in until Friday afternoon

Kennedale is ranked #3 in TABC and they going against #18 Smithsville, the top two teams, Stephenville and Fairfield were knocked out so you never know

SCHEDULE

Spartans are not done

Christen Inman and Sydney Buchel did something few players get to do, well they did a number of things however even though they didn't make it to state F-4, they made it to the area F-4 which is an accomplishment in itself. The Spartans are going to lose several seniors however the future is bright and their freshmen class might be one of if not the best in city, watch out!

2016 Gregory helps Triple A advance to state

In hindsight, I should have done more predictions because after watching Gabrielle Gregory for the first time at Big State Flava last seaon, I knew she would make the adjustment quite easily from middle to high school and her double digit average for points, along with being second on the team in assists running the point, makes my point when I said "you need to keep an eye on this young lady."

Triple A opens against Smyer on Thursday

PLAYOFFS

Tomball run ends against Georgetown

Kaitlin Walla scored on a variety of ways on Friday and Saturday and her offense was one of the key reasons Georgetown is advancing to the state tournament on Thursday against Northside Brennan. In the championship game, Walla dropped 20 points but you have to give credit to the Lady Eagles defense as they held the Lady Cougars to three points in the opening quarter and eight at the half.

You also have to give Tomball credit because even though their shots weren't falling, they were still conceivably in  it midway through the final quarter. Carissa Diaz scored 10 points and had probably what was close to a double double for both games over the weekend

College action today

SMU @ U of H 2pm
Marshall @ Rice 2pm

Clear Springs prove third time is a charm

After being knocked out in the semis by Elsik back to back seasons, Clear Spring had to go through three of my preseason Top 8 picks in order to get here, let me give myself a S/O just for fun. I saw a chance to see some exciting basketball the past week, the truly sad part about it is that I've watched numerous players finish their high school careers including Top 100 kids who will go down as some of the greatest to ever play in the area.

I'm guessing Clear Springs will be facing Pflugerville and San Antonio Wagner will have to play Duncanville and although the Chargers didn't get a chance to play the Pantherettes in the Texas Invitational finals, this game could happen but it's going to be tough.

Well Clear Springs knows about toughness, they've made it out if the region and and they had to play four tough ones to get here so to say there ready for anything probably sums it up, read more

R-4 GPR Toss Up

The legend continues as Amber Ramirez has her team one step closer to Austin as San Antonio Wagner takes on Cibolo Steele. That task won't be easy as Mackenzie Calvert and Kyra Lambert are potent combination that will be hard to handle. Again, Johnson was the best team I saw prior to Recee Caldwell leaving from R-4.  This game cold go either way so we'll just have to wait

R-2 Can Dekaney deliver again?

Didn't see this one coming as I was almost certain Skyline would be playing Plano West however I know Pflugervile is always tough, just didn't think they could pop the Wolves in what turned out to be an as  good or even better R-2 semifinal than the R-3 I witnessed. "The Fluge" defeated Plano West 64-63 to move into the final against Dekaney today. The Wildcats knocked off Skyline 48-45 behind Amber Driver's 13 points. Could this set the stage for two unbeaten s in Austin should Pflugerville advance? Will Dekaney pull it off again as their loaded senior class goes out with a bang in a return trip to Austin? Those answers later, same GPR time, same GPR station

BOX SCORE

Clear Springs advances the area final

Jo Ann Lira does a lot of little things you may not see when you look at the box score however her play was vital in the Chargers victory over Bellaire. The point guards for each team went after it, there were several comebacks from the Cardinals but at the end of the day, too many weapons from from Clear Springs proved to be the key, read more

BOX SCORE

What do I mean when I talk about the little things Lira does that may go unnoticed? Check this pass out and yes this did excite me

Inman elevates Lady Spartans to victory

The first quarter of this game between Pearland and Seven Lakes is how I envisioned the Oilers season to go, not what I saw on opening day against Langham Creek which will be marked as a bad game at the wrong time. This time around, they could do know wrong as they brought heat on both ends of the floor forcing the Spartans to commit turnovers. Keara Hudnall and Jasmine Butler were on fire early however Sydney Buchel's six points and a Brittany Biggot bucket at the end of the quarter kept Seven Lakes in striking distance as they trailed 19-13

You don't want to have an opponent within striking distance when they have a player like Christin Inman who for some reason had memories of David Thompson kept going through my head because this young lady just keeps going up, up and before you know it, away as the Oilers were held to four points in the second quarter and found themselves down 26-23 at the half. You can't count Pearland out as their inside presence of Hudnall, Butler and Lanteetra Guillory is pretty effective as they combined for 33 points

Inman scored 25 for the Spartans, this following her 24 in regulation against Cy Woods, plus the 12 in OT, has her clicking at the right time. They now have to battle the team I picked to get out of here and to see it will be an uphill battle is putting it mildly. Keep in mind, I've seen some strange things happen throughout the years and you have to play the game

BOX SCORE

Georgetown impressive as Lady Eagles soar

Georgetown came in ranked as the TABC #1 team in 4A and they played like it as they defeated Lamar Consolidated 47-29. Hayley Hunter and Kaitlin Walla scored 16 and  12 respectively while LC struggled offensively, at the the half, Ann Nwosah had 10 of the teams 14 points as they trailed by 16. The Lady Mustangs have some kids who can fill it up from long range, s I knew they could turn this around however it just wasn't their night as they scored only one point in the third quarter

Nwosah wound up with 18 points as she continues to elevate on the court and most importantly her status off the floor as a hot commodity for the next level. Marleah Palmer is known for long ball ability, she hit a couple of threes but the Lady Mustangs have a solid nucleus of Nwosah, Palmer and Quateral Limbrick coming back so they might just pull it off next season

BOX SCORE

Diaz does it all in Cougars victory

Tomball jumped out to a  10-2 lead and appeared to be on the verge f blowing this game wide open however two steals by Pflugerville's Bria Freiland in the back-court in which she drove the length of the floor for lay-ups set the tone for the game as it never was beyond three possessions. The Cougars Carissa Davis came up huge as she not only scored in double digits (10) but she probably had double digit rebounds along with numerous assists which is added commodity for a post as she hit her teammates on the money several times

Frieland played huge again after hitting the game winner against Beaumont Central, her 12 points on a a variety of ways were one of the reasons Connally stayed within striking distance.Another reason was Azaria Miller who came up when key baskets from the second quarter on, finishing with 14 to lead all scorers. Tomball's Lexe Mark was ice nailing free throws down the stretch to secure the 45-40 win

BOX SCORE

St Pius battles Liberty Christian tonight

Liberty Christian freshman Sydney Goodson #13

If St Pius makes it back to the state F4 in TAPPS 5A, they will begin their journey tonight in College Station against Argyle Liberty Christian. Lamar signee Micarah Malone leads St Pius while Liberty Christian starts four freshmen, including a young lady I had a chance to see up close and personal at Prime Time Nationals last summer, Kendall Ellig

BRACKETS

2009 stars bring back memories

Zoe Rogers (Rice) and Gevenia Carter (UCF)

I had a chance to watch Rice take on Central Florida last night and the previous night I caught HBU as they hosted Texas State. The home teams won on both nights but the young ladies who played in those games that are from our area had me reminiscing. about a very special class

I probably over use the "time flies" phrase but it actually does and even though I still  remember my children at five or six playing on those portable goals for the Y that were about eight feet tall, so it should come to know surprise that I remember the 2009 class of stars and a star studded class it was.

Not only did the Houston area have the top two players in the country, both were posts, Texas had a total of five Top 100 players that were 6'4 or better, not to mention several others who made the cut

One of those Top 100 players, Gevenia Carter, helped make Westfield one of the areas top teams and her electrifying moves not to mention "the jumper lie a guy" gave her the ability to score on anyone and help Westfield make a run.

The same could be said for Zoe Rogers, who was smooth on both ends of the floor, and was a big key to Bellaire's success. She was also instrumental in keeping the Cardinals among the top teams after Carla Cortigo and before AJ Alix

Hightower's Diamond Ford could have easily been a Top 100 player but her role with the Hurricanes was to score and that she did keeping her team as a consensus team to beat not only in district but also one of the favorites in the playoffs each season

2013 R3 4A Final 4

Pflugerville Connally had to defeat a couple of tough Beaumont teams to get here and in order to advance to the next step, they have to beat Tomball which won't be an easy task. Lamar Consolidated goes against TABC #1 Georgetown in the following game however the top ranked team was knocked off in the same Campbell Center last season so you never know. To be honest with you, this one is up for grabs, read more