Kelly’s 3-pointer gave the Lady Rangers the lead, and they held on for a 54-49 win over College Station, breaking the Lady Cougars’ 11-game winning streak and tying for first in the District 19-5A standings.
“I didn’t know if it was going in or not,” said Kelly, who finished with 10 points. “Then it went in, and I was happy.”
Although Kelly had her doubts, Rudder head coach John Shelton said he was confident from the start.
“For some reason when Keaundra shot that 3 I knew it was going in,” Shelton said. “I try to tell all the kids to keep shooting because it will fall, and tonight she did.”
College Station (19-6, 5-1) led most of the way until the fourth quarter when Rudder (23-3, 5-1) gained momentum by pushing on defense and hitting free throws. The Lady Rangers inched within three with 4:39 left in the fourth, and Kelly later tied the game at 47 by making two free throws. Tianna Mathis then gave the Lady Rangers the lead with a putback basket.
Rudder fouled with 1:45 left, and College Station’s Na’layjah Johnson made both free throws to tie the game at 49.
College Station missed three shots down the stretch, and Kelly’s 3-pointer and Mathis’ two free throws to end the quarter were the difference as the Lady Rangers avenged their 73-67 loss to the Lady Cougars in the Division I championship game of the Aggieland Invitational on Dec. 28.
“The difference in the game was how we clapped down on defense,” Shelton said. “I would like that to be our trademark. I know our trademark is pressing, but College Station is hard to press, so we did what we had to do to win tonight, and it worked.”
The Lady Cougars came out strong and led 20-12 after the first quarter. Rudder tied the game at 20 late in the second period, but College Station closed the first half on a 9-6 run for a 29-26 halftime lead.
The Lady Cougars again came out strong to start the second half, using a 12-4 run to build a 11-point lead.
But for the first time in 12 games, College Station struggled to handle a big run by its opponent as Rudder rallied in the final quarter.
“We preach to our kids all the time that basketball is a game of momentum and momentum shifts, especially when playing a tight game,” College Station head coach Megan Symank said. “They need to understand that momentum is going to come and it’s going to shift, and what you try to do, especially when the other teams gets it, is just try to control their swings and be sure that we don’t let it get too far away from us. I thought we did a god job of controlling it from the defensive end. We played our hearts out, and unfortunately just in the fourth quarter we weren’t able to put the ball in the hole when it mattered.”
Rudder will host Magnolia, and College Station will play at Magnolia West at 6:30 p.m. Friday as they wrap up the first round of 19-5A play.
“We have to lick our wounds a little bit,” Symank said. “We still have one more district game to play before we start the second round, so we’re going to recover tonight, and we have to set our sights on Magnolia West.”
Rudder 54, College Station 49
(Numbers after names indicate field goals made, free throws made-attempted, points.)
RUDDER (23-3, 5-1) — Tianna Mathis 6 5-6 17, Deondra Young 4 4-6 12, Keaundra Kelly 2 3-3 10, Bryanna Turner 3 0-0 6, Asani McGee 2 0-0 4, Rakia Lee 0 0-0 3, Aliyah Johnson 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 18 12-15 54.
COLLEGE STATION (19-6, 5-1) - Na’layjah Johnson 3 4-4 19, Aliyah Collins 3 1-2 10, Jaeden McMilli... Click here to read full article
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