Chargers win their first regional crown
The Fulshear girls basketball team clung to a late lead for the second consecutive game Saturday at the Merrell Center.
On Friday a large lead dwindled to one possession. Saturday was a fourquarter grind between two exceptional teams.
The result was the same both nights. The Chargers emerged victorious once again, edging Pflugerville Hendrickson 45-43 to win the Region III-5A championship.
Fulshear (33-5), which opened in 2016, advances to the University Interscholastic League Class 5A state basketball tournament for the first time. The semifinals begin Thursday against an opponent to be determined.
“We’re just so blessed,” Fulshear coach D’Shanna Brown said. “At this moment I just say thank God, and thank those girls because they fought day in and day out. They showed up to practice. Even in these games, when things didn’t go our way they toughed it out. They had so much grit, so much heart. I’m so proud of them more than anything.”
Senior Ese Ogbevire scored a game-high 23 points for the Chargers, making five of 10 threepoint attempts. Adding 10 rebounds and two steals, she scored 11 consecutive points for the Chargers while running the point during a crucial thirdquarter stretch.
Junior Kimora Lopez contributed 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists, getting involved in the scoring early and putting the Chargers ahead for good late in the third.
“Kimora’s a big-time player,” Brown said. “Sometimes it can be forgotten, but I respect her so much because of the resiliency she has playing with a dislocated shoulder. That baby fought so hard. She could’ve easily come out the game, but she wanted it that much more. She just kept looking at me like ‘Coach, I’m playing, don’t take me out.’ She’s a bigtime player and knocked
down big-time shots.”
The Chargers led 20-19 at halftime, with most of the scoring in a 17-13 first quarter. Neither team shot better than 31 percent before halftime. Hendrickson held the Chargers scoreless over the final six minutes of the half and did not get their own field goal until Mikalah Buckley’s three late in the second quarter.
Hendrickson (34-6) pulled ahead 27-23 in the third quarter, led by Maci Quiller as part of a stellar performance. Quiller finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks and two steals to keep the game close.
Ogbevire cut the lead multiple times before Lopez made two go-ahead baskets, one a three off an assist from Kennedy Hill, the latter a driving basket for a 36-35 lead to close the quarter.
“I’m just thinking ‘we need this, we need this to go to state,’ ” Lopez said. “It’s my seniors’ last year. It’s just like playing for your family. You’ve seen ‘Fast and Furious’. It’s all about family and we love it.”
Fulshear maintained a one-possession lead through much of a tense fourth quarter. Ruke Ogbevire returned from foul trouble for a key basket, and Lopez found Hill open on a fast break for a 44-39 lead.
Quiller scored twice to cut the lead to one with 1:20 remaining but it was the Hawks’ final basket. The teams exchanged turnovers before Lopez added a free throw with 18 seconds left.
Hendrickson had two shots on its final possession, but a final rebound opportunity skipped away in the closing seconds.
Playing a team that had won 13 consecutive games and scored 71 points in its semifinal victory, the Chargers consistently came up with clutch stops.
“(God) was with us the whole way,” Ese Ogbevire said. “And just execution. We spend so much time planning and watching film, and executing different things to lock them up. I’m proud we could stay composed when we had multiple players in foul trouble and the odds were against us. We weren’t predicted to win, but we came out here as the underdog and we came out on top.”