In the first round of the playoffs, we faced the #1 ranked Lions of San Antonio Christian. We knew in advance that this was a quality team; they had to be to receive the #1 seed. It was a packed house due to their boys playing before us at 2:00 vs. another district school from Houston, Ft. Bend Baptist. The atmosphere was perfect for a high school playoff game.
    We began the game playing in a man defense trying to slow their high scoring offense down. It worked. This team has been scoring at will in district play and we knew that we needed to change up the pace and get them out of their comfort zone (we ended up staying in a man to man defense for the entire game). After one, we were behind by the score of 9-7. At half, the score was 18-15 in favor of the Lions. Although we were down, we felt that the game was ours. We made a few small adjustments at half and outscored the Lions 14-10 in the 3rd to lead 29-28 with 8 minutes to play. In the 4th, both teams caught fire. SACS shot 6 for 9, including one 3-pointer, and 7 for 9 on their free throws. With 2 minutes to play, we held a 1 point lead. It was a battle back and forth. With 15 seconds left, we cleared the boards with a defensive rebound and brought the ball across half court. I called my last time out. Down by two points, we needed a play to score and tie the game. We spread the defense out and let Kate penetrate to the basket. The shot fell short and SACS got the rebound. They called a timeout with 3.5 seconds left. We had to foul if we didn't get the steal. They in bounded the ball and we fouled with 2.6 seconds left. By this time, they were in the double bonus. We had accumulated 21 fouls this game to their 12. They hit both free throws to seal the victory. We fell short by the score of 48-44.
    Our girls played so hard and I've never been more proud of their efforts. The San Antonio Christian coaching staff were very complimentary with our hustle, our intensity and the manner in which we played. I told the girls after the game to keep their heads up. We were so close to advancing to the Regional finals with a chance to play Houston Christian, a team that we had previously beat earlier this season. My thanks go out to our 2 seniors, Kate and Lindsey, who made this season so special. It was an honor to coach them in basketball again bringing back memories of middle school. I hope that we can take their leadership and character to the next level in our seasons to come. The team made so many strides this year and we definitely took a step in the right direction. Next season, we'll have 3 returning starters; Bailee Pender (junior), Emily Wilson (junior) and Brittany Flowers (freshman), along with Karen Karasevich (junior) and Sarah Steele (freshman), who came off the bench and received a lot of playing time this year. Our 3 sophomores, Ally Gandy, Allison Gilbert and Kelsey Hickman , who were injured for most of the season, should be healthy and ready to contribute next year as well.
    Lindsey, as usual, led the team in rebounds with 10; Kate led in assists with 5; Emily and Bailee tied in steals with 3 a piece; and Emily led with 1 blocked shot. We only committed 12 turnovers this game. This is a huge credit to the girls, who patiently ran our offense and broke the SACS press countless times. Kate led all scores with 18 points, followed by Lindsey with 9.
    As a team, we shot 19 for 36 (53%) from the floor, 0 for 3 (0%) from 3 point range, and 6 for 12 (50%) from the line.
    I want to thank Joanne Gandy for being an incredible team mom this year and the rest of the parents for their support and assistance for all the games. Thank you Greg, Perry, Sharon, Jeff and Ron for filming, keeping stats and keeping me on the right track.