Girls basketball playoffs

The basketball girls traveled to Cedar Creek on Feb. 12 to play Lagrange High School in their first round of playoffs.

After winning round one, the girls traveled to Temple High School on Feb. 16 to play their district competitor, China Springs.

“I was so excited after we won the first round against Lagrange, but I knew we couldn’t get a big head before round two,” junior Gabbie Mcdonald said. “I remember telling the girls, ‘this is not the end; it’s only the beginning and we can’t lose focus.’”

The girls worked hard during the season every day after school and during the period leading up to their playoff run.

“We were the first basketball group in our school’s history to attend the playoffs, so obviously I’m proud either way,” junior Regina Briseno said. “We worked our butts off to get this opportunity and we won’t let anyone belittle it because we didn’t get as far as we would have liked.”

Each practice specialized in a certain skill the team needed to work on.

“We would really have our practices be based off the game we would play the previous night,” Mcdonald said. “One day we would focus on especially ball-handling and the next we would work on shooting.”

The team is expected to advance even farther next year, moving into a 5A district.

“We have a lot of new players coming in from either the JV team or transfers which means more room for talent and growth to help our team getting better and better,” Mcdonald said. “This year we got far but next year we will get even farther.”

The team will continue to work towards playoffs by drilling at a higher level and pace in the offseason.

“Now that coach knows what we’re capable of, he is going to push us to that limit each time,” Mcdonald said. “There is no excuses now. We just need to come together as a team and work harder than we ever have before to keep on getting to where we need to be.”