Canyon coach Larry Tennell wasn’t pleased with his team’s performance after three quarters, and he let his players know it. And going into the fourth quarter against Seguin, the Cougarettes let out their frustration on the opposition.
Following a tongue-lashing from Tennell, the Canyon girls’ basketball team turned a 32-31 deficit into a 49-39 victory over the Matadors in the first round of the Cougarette Classic on Thursday inside the Cougar Den.
“Maybe it got them mad at me and made them want to play harder,” Tennell said. “We played the fourth quarter, but we did not play well in third quarter.”
In earlier Classic games, San Antonio Roosevelt defeated New Braunfels 69-39, while the Smithson Valley Rangers beat Houston Second Baptist 75-37.
Canyon put the Matadors (2-9) away with an 18-5 run that started with a 3-pointer by freshman Taylor Billingsley. Trailing 34-31, Canyon’s Katie Korioth brought the ball up the court after a Seguin turnover. The Cougarettes then passed the ball around the perimeter, before it made its way to Billingsley, who nailed a trey from the corner.
Seconds later Canyon took the lead for good when Billingsley hit two free throws after she was fouled by Claudia Gallegos.
“She took the bull by the horns,” Tennell said. “We needed someone to step up.”
Billingsley’s points ignited Canyon toward its two-digit victory following a third quarter that saw the Cougarettes give up the lead while shooting 15 percent from the field. In the fourth quarter Canyon shot 33 percent and hit nine of 12 free throws.
“After (hitting the 3 and the free throws) we started to play differently,” Billingsley said. “We played as a team. It all has to do with tempo. After that we got on a roll.”
Forward Joan Friesenhahn, who scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds, said she felt Tennell’s speech before the fourth quarter was the push the team needed.
“Coach Tennell talked to us. He gave us a butt-chewing,” Friesenhahn said. “Some might get down but for some of us it was what we needed to get fired up.”
Korioth led the team with 12 points, with Brittani Hackfeld adding 10 and eight rebounds. Billingsley scored seven on the night.
Despite shooting 26 percent from the field for the game, Canyon held the lead most of the night. The Cougarettes jumped in front 6-2 after an inside bucket by Friesenhahn courtesy of Hackfeld. Friesenhahn pushed the lead to 15-9 by the end of the first period, on a put-back of her own miss.
Canyon had its best shooting effort in the first quarter, hitting 42 percent of its shots. In the second and third quarters the Cougarettes shot 19 and 15 percent, respectively.
“We played bad at times and good other times,” Tennell said. “I think they were impatient with some of their shots. When we set up and don’t rush we can get some good looks.”
The win sets Canyon up for a match against Roosevelt today at 8 p.m.
“We’ve got to play a lot better than we did (Thursday),” Friesenhahn said of today’s contest against the state’s 10th-ranked Class 5A team.
Smithson Valley 75,
Houston Second Baptist 37
Better efforts in all facets of the game propelled Smithson Valley to a lopsided win in its first game of the Cougarette Classic.
Senior Mallory Meyers led the attack Thursday with 19 points, five rebounds, three steals and a block as the Rangers scored 28 in the third quarter to blow open a game they led by just seven at halftime.
“We didn’t get a lot better in any one part of the game,” coach Jim Jost said. “But we did get a little better in all areas. We’re shooting about 10 percent better from the free throw line as opposed to last year.”
Senior Megan Turk added 12 points, while freshman Danielle Blagg added eight points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Fellow freshman Dana Monroe notched four points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Smithson Valley started the third quarter up 28-21, but had pushed the lead to 36-21 before the quarter was two minutes old, following a Turk three-pointer.
Turk and other starters sat for much of the second quarter, after the Rangers ended the first period with a 17-7 lead.
“The idea was just that we’ve got to play three games in three days,” Jost said of giving his starters rest. “We were able to get a lot of people on the court tonight.”
Emmy Plezia hit a field goal for Second Baptist after the Turk trey, but then the Rangers went to work.
Smithson Valley responded with a 9-3 run, capped by three-point play by Meyers to make the score 45-26. After a Second Baptist bucket, Smithson Valley scored nine unanswered points, highlighted by five points in the middle of the run from Blagg.
“We were playing more of a three-quarter press in the first half but decided at halftime to go to the full press,” Jost said. “We’re going to keep coming at you.”
The Rangers (10-4), who matched last season’s win total, will play Hays in a championship semifinal today at 6:30 p.m.
Roosevelt 69, New Braunfels 39
The District 26-5A Rough Riders brought out their guns for Comal County to see, and the state’s No. 10-ranked team didn’t disappoint.
Felicia Jacobs scored a game-high 24 points, Tamisha Timpson and Deanna Patterson scored 12 each and Bianca Suarez added eight as Roosevelt dominated from start to finish.
“Obviously Roosevelt is a very good team — they’re faster than anything we’ve gone against,” said New Braunfels coach Lance Hughey, whose team brought an 8-1 record into the contest. “Their speed just shocked us, I think. We adjusted a little bit better in the second half, when they played their subs more, but their speed shocked us.
“I think we’re going to have to play against some boys teams for us to get used to seeing speed like that.”
Roosevelt (11-1) came out smoking, forcing turnover after turnover against the Unicorns, who were doing a pretty good job passing the ball. But speed isn’t something that’s taught, and the Riders used it to forge a 22-12 lead just into the second quarter.
New Braunfels was outscored 22-6 in the second and trailed 42-18 at halftime. TR added another 19-6 spurt in the third to go into the final quarter with a 61-24 lead.
Katie Hittle scored 14 points for New Braunfels, which got eight from Caffrina Poole, six by Sophie Thomas and four from Taylor Rust.
“I was pleased with a couple of our younger kids, who really stepped up and played hard against some real quality competition,” Hughey said. “We didn’t play them as close as we would have liked, but there were some bright spots.”
The turnovers and poor free throw shooting didn’t help the Unicorns, who did perform well at times.
“We’ve got to make free throws, which are points that we’re leaving out there,” Hughey said. “But we’re playing pretty good defense. We’re rebounding pretty good, but we need to take better care of the ball and make the free throws.”
AREA HOOP TOURNEYS
GIRLS
COUGARETTE CLASSIC
At Canyon’s Cougar Den
THURSDAY
Hays Consolidated 82, Fox Tech 19
Smithson Valley 75, Houston Second Baptist 37
SA Roosevelt 69, New Braunfels 39
Canyon 49, Seguin 39
TODAY
Championship semifinals
Hays (7-1) vs. Smithson Valley (10-4), 6:30 p.m.
SA Roosevelt (11-1) vs. Canyon (6-4), 8 p.m.
Consolation semifinals
Fox Tech (0-10) vs. Houston Second Baptist (6-9), 3:30 p.m.
New Braunfels (8-2) vs. Seguin (2-9), 5 p.m.
SATURDAY
Seventh-place game, 9 a.m.
Consolation championship, 10:30 a.m.
Third-place game, Noon
Championship, 1:30 p.m.
BOYS
SEGUIN MATADOR CLASSIC
At Crump and Harris Gyms, Seguin
TODAY
All at Harris Gym
Canyon (0-3) vs. Austin Akins (2-0), 9 a.m.
Steele (2-2) vs. Austin Crockett (2-3), 10:30 a.m.
