Lady Mustangs roll in bi-district opener
Magnolia West has been through the rigors of the postseason before. So when the Lady Mustangs took the court at Tomball Memorial High School on Tuesday evening, they were not intimidated by the moment. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Magnolia West looked dominant during its playoff opener, rolling to a 7338 victory over Tomball in the Region III-5A bi-district round. It was the third postseason win in school history for a program that had zero before last year.
“The first one to get it going is always important,” Magnolia West coach Sarah Simmons said. “The thing I told them before the game was this was going to set the tone for who we are as a playoff team. I have eight (players) returning who have experienced this, but I have some who haven’t, so we kind of had to set that tone.”
The Lady Mustangs (25-7) will take on No. 9 Georgetown (23-9) in the area round later this week. The District 18-5A champion Lady Eagles, who went 12-0 in league games and have not lost since Dec. 29, defeated Marble Falls 5237 in the bi-district round on Monday to advance.
“It’s going to be tough,” Simmons said. “I’ve seen them play, and they’re very fundamental, they’re a great-coached team, and we’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game to match up with them.”
Tomball (18-8), meanwhile, saw its season come to a close following its sixth playoff appearance in seven years and first under second-year head coach Doug Barncastle.
The Lady Cougars just did not have enough firepower to match the Lady Mustangs, who would have challenged College Station for the District 19-5A title had they not forfeit three games due to the use of an ineligible player.
“I told them we had two choices,” Simmons said. “We could either fold as a result of what happened or we could just do what we had planned on doing anyway, which was win a bunch of ball games. … That kind of set the tone on how we handled it. The other way we handled it was very lovingly, like a family. We were very protective of each other throughout that process.”
Magnolia West was led by junior Kamryn Jones, who finished with a gamehigh 20 points. The Lady Mustangs also got 17 points from senior forward Hannah Eggleston, who Simmons said was the vocal catalyst as the team dealt with their adversity during district play. Kamari Portalis finished with 13 points, and Alyssa May added 11.
Sophomore guard Eliza Lehmann was the only player in double figures for Tomball, finishing the game with 15 points.
The Lady Mustangs led 20-10 at the end of the first quarter, thanks in large part to eight points out of the gate from Eggleston. Magnolia West continued to separate in the second period as it forced the Lady Cougars to commit nine turnovers. The Lady Mustangs held Tomball scoreless for a stretch of more than five minutes and walked into the locker room with a commanding 34-18 advantage.
It was more of the same in the third and fourth quarters as Magnolia West used its length and quickness on defense to limit Tomball. The Lady Mustangs surpassed their average scoring mark of 57 points with six minutes remaining in the game.
“It was having our defense translate into transition points,” Simmons said. “That was a big key for us and something we focused on in practice coming into this one.”