By Caleb Adams

Leader Correspondent

 

SOUR LAKE —The Houston Wheatley Lady Wildcats toppled the Bridge City Lady Cardinals 81-44 at Hardin-Jefferson High School on Friday night in the Class 4A Region III area round of the playoffs in what was a big win for the Lady Wildcats, who entered the playoff ranked No. 4 in the last Class 4A state poll.

Houston Wheatley’s Ariana Taylor took over the game putting up 19 points, just in the first half, nine points shy of Bridge City’s total for the half, and would put up 24 on the night. Tilisha Brown would put up 20 of her own on the night as well as the Lady Wildcats improved to 28-3 on the season.

For Bridge City, Aniah Hicks would put up 11 points to lead the Lady Cardinals in scoring, Madison Fischer would also eclipse double digits with 10, the only two to do it for the team.

The loss ended a good season for the Lady Cardinals, who defeated LC-M to earn the third-place seed out of 22-4A. Bridge City defeated Lufkin Hudson in the bidistrict round before running into a stout Wheatley crew.

Both teams entered the game knowing it was going to be do or die, and to leave it all on the court.

The Lady Cardinals set their tempo early with a lot of passing and looking for open shots on the outside, and the Lady Wildcats had the same plan, which made this for a shot-happy game. Both teams had turns taking the lead back and forth in the first quarter to set the competitive tone for the rest of the game.

The Lady Wildcats took a one-point lead at 13-12 after the first quarter. Taylor for the Wildcats had nine points in the quarter while guard Maysen Tyler lead the Lady Cards with six.

The Lady Wildcats took over with a consistent five-point lead, as they figured out how to slow down the Lady Cards offense. Even with the lead, the Wildcats were playing high-pressure basketball and keeping the Lady Cards off kilter.

With the help of their leading scorer Taylor putting up a big 19 points up to this point, the Lady Wildcats took the first double digit lead of the game at 41-28 off a last-second three from Telisha Brown. Bridge City would need to find an answer on the defensive side as their opponents just put up 28 on them in one quarter.

The third quarter was were Wheatley really took over the game. On top of the relentless style of defense the Lady Wildcats play, their offense doesn’t stop scoring. The Lady Wildcats were up as much as 28 points in the third quarter and didn’t seem like they were stopping anytime soon.

The Lady Wildcats put up another 28 in the third quarter to take a 69-36 commanding lead, and the Lady Cardinals would need a small miracle to get back in the game with only eight minutes on the clock.

The Lady Cardinals battled hard as they saw a solid season come to an end.