“We played really well. We played really hard,” Lady Cougars head coach Megan Symank said. “We get to see this team two more times, and we have a lot of respect for who they are and what they do. They are a force to be reckoned with. I’m happy to walk away with an Aggieland Invitational championship out of it, but the fact of the matter is that we can celebrate this, but now everything from this point on determines whether or not we play in the postseason.”
Last year, College Station (16-5, 2-0) and Rudder (18-2, 2-0) met in the same championship game, where College Station rolled to an 86-37 win. But the Lady Rangers were not going to lose quietly this time around.
The Lady Cougars took an early 10-4 lead in the first quarter on three 3-pointers by Rebekah Hailey and Na’layjah Johnson. After a College Station foul put Rudder on the free throw line, the Lady Rangers went on a 6-0 run to get back in the game at 12-10.
Tianna Mathis’ layup with seconds left in the period inched Rudder one point behind College Station.
The Lady Rangers took their second lead of the game when a pair of Mathis free throws made it 14-13, the start of a free-throw dominated stretch. Each team made a pair before Hailey went on a solo 6-0 run to give the Lady Cougars a 23-19 lead. College Station made five more free throws to take a 32-27 edge at halftime despite an 8-0 Rudder run, led by Mathis, at the end of the period.
Symank said it wasn’t in their game plan to go back-and-forth with Rudder’s offense.
“We had a specific game plan going into it, and we knew if we let it get away from us that it would turn into a chaotic track meet. We didn’t necessarily want to do that,” Symank said. “You can look at this game, and that’s probably what it looked like to our spectators and fans, but we both have kids who are playing really hard.”
As for the many free throws, Rudder head coach John Shelton said his team gave College Station too many opportunities at the line. In total, the Lady Cougars made 24 free throws, the same as Rudder, but saw the free-throw line 41 times compared to the Lady Rangers’ 35.
“Any time you put people on the free-throw line as much as we put them, a great team is going to make free throws and that’s what they did,” Shelton said.
However, Rudder shined in the third quarter, outscoring College Station 22-21 for the first time in the game. The Lady Cougars came out swinging with a 10-0 run led by Johnson and Love Ryberg, but Rudder quickly answered and took control.
Deondra Young led the way with four free throws before making two baskets that put the Lady Rangers up 45-44 with less than two minutes left in the period. Rudder’s Asani McGee put in two more free throws, but College Station’s Hadley House shot a 3-pointer, her only score of the game, to tie it up at 47. Young tied up the game again at 49 after going up for a layup before the Lady Cougars took back control with two free throws and a layup to close out the third.
Similar to the second quarter, the fourth was filled with fouls and free-throw opportunities. College Station had six fouls that helped Rudder score six points, while Rudder’s nine fouls led College Station to ten points.
Despite the final margin, the game was close until the last minute. Mathis got Rudder within two at 67-65 with a layup to cap off her 4-1 run. But the Lady Cougars made it to the free-throw line three more times with just 17.2 seconds left in the game to come up with their second consecutive championship.
Overall, Shelton said although their rebounding proved to be successful, the turnovers on offense were fatal.
“Our defense was in and out, we rebounded really good, but the bottom line is we had 38 turnovers,” Shelton said. “That’s ridiculous. We average 18 turnovers. I think it’s a good little rivalry we have. It’s just a fun rivalry. Today was fun, but I wish we would have won.”
Symank said the win took a team effort, compared to other games where one or two people standout offensively. Hailey led the Lady Cougars with 22 points, and Johnson, who went 7 for 8 from the charity stripe, had 16 points. Cornecia Thompson finished with 10 points and went 4 of 8 at the free-throw line.
“Last night, I felt like there was some key, dominant players, and today I felt like it was a collective effort,” Symank said. “We had kids in foul trouble who were sitting the bench, and some of our other players stepped up and handled those roles that the others ordinarily play. I think it was a balanced, collective effort, and I think [Cornecia Thompson] really stepped it up for us, as far as playing every possession to its fullest potential, and she created things offensively.”
Both Rudder and College Station will return to the court Friday to resume 19-5A play. The Lady Cougars host Magnolia at 6:30 p.m., while the Lady Rangers host Katy Paetow at 11:30 a.m.
“We’re going to celebrate this and come back to work on Monday,” Symank said. “We’ll go to the drawing board and figure out how we’re going to beat them, but we’re not going to worrying about that until Monday.”
College Station 73, Rudder 67
COLLEGE STATION (16-5, 2-0) — Rebekah Hailey 3-6 22, Na’layjah Johnson 7-8 16, Cornecia Thompson 4-8 10, Love Ryberg 3-4 9, Aliyah Collins 4-8 6, Mia Rivers 1-5 5, Hadley House 0-0 3, Jaeden McMillin 2-2 2. TOTAL: 24-41, 73; FT: 59%
RUDDER (18-2, 2-0) — Tianna Mathis 10-12 24, Deondra Young 6-9 22, Keaundra Kelly 1-3 7, Asani McGee 4-4 6, Camero... Click here to read full article
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