HALTOM CITY – With the regular season in the rear view window, Aledo’s varsity Ladycats kicked off their 2025 playoff run with a dominant performance against Birdville to claim their Class 5A Division II bi-district contest on Monday, Feb. 10.
A second-half flurry by Aledo (22-11 overall, 10-2 in District 5-5A, second place) allowed them to put some distance between themselves and the Lady Hawks (12-18, 6-6 in District 6-5A, third) as they cruised to a 16-point victory, 53-37.
“I feel really, really good,” first-year Ladycat coach Donnie Ott said after the game. “We’ve got to clean some things up defensively that I would’ve liked to have done better that exposed us a little bit. It’s good. You want those things, as coaches, to continue to work and improve your team. But I was just so proud of their effort.”
The start of the game resembled more of a three-point contest during an all-star weekend with the two teams trading volleys from beyond the three-point line. Birdville opened the scoring with a three-pointer. Aledo’s junior point guard Liz Griffin answered right back with a long ball of her own to make it a 3-3 affair early.
The Lady Hawks knocked down another three-pointer on the ensuing possession to make it 6-3 with neither team having attempted a shot from inside the arc.
Then the Ladycats began to find their rhythm.
Since transferring to Aledo from Virginia last summer, Tiara Butler has become a cornerstone of the Ladycat basketball team at both ends of the floor. Monday night was no exception. Butler claimed her first basket of the night with 5:13 left in the first quarter, thrashing around in the paint to score a tough bucket to bring Aledo within one of Birdville.
After the Aledo defense forced a turnover, Griffin earned three the hard way, taking a hard shot as she drove the lane for a layup. The shot scored, putting Griffin at the charity stripe where she converted the free throw to give the Ladycats their first lead of the game.
Birdville answered back to tie the game at 8-8 with 3:51 left in the first quarter. However, that was as close as the Lady Hawks would get to the lead the rest of the way. In the remaining three and a half minutes in the first quarter, Aledo outpaced Birdville 11-5.
Griffin remained hot as she knocked down a pair of threes to put the Ladycats up by a half dozen forcing the Lady Hawks to take their first timeout of the game with 3:20 left in the first and the score 14-8 in favor of the Ladycats.
As play resumed Butler drew a hard foul in the paint before knocking down both free throws. A minute later August Carlone came off the bench, got a good look at the bucket from behind the arc, and knocked down her lone basket of the game right in front of the Birdville bench as Aledo took a 19-13 lead into the second quarter.
Scoring for both teams slowed in the second quarter as the Ladycats still managed to outpace Birdville, 8-5, to take a 27-18 lead into the half.
Coming out of the break Aledo made a strategic change to their offense that ended up paying dividends.
“We executed our offense well,” Ott said. “We stayed patient. We forced them to get out of their zone by holding the ball out there and making them come out to play us a little bit. We forced their hand a little bit. We knew they didn’t want to play us in man. I think that was huge for us being able to execute and do those things.”
The Ladycats put up a dozen points in the third quarter, thanks to their ability to stay disciplined as they drew the Lady Hawks out of their zone. Brooklyn Dempsey led the charge for Aledo with five points in the quarter as she went 3-for-3 from the stripe and drove the lane to score a contested bucket.
Heading into the final frame the Ladycats held a 39-27 lead. Aledo stuck to their gameplan like duct tape. Holding the ball near half court flushed the Lady Hawks out of their zone opening up the post for Kinley Elms and Butler to do their work on the scoreboard. Down the stretch the duo combined for 11 of Aledo’s 14 fourth-quarter points en route to a commanding 16-point victory.
Ladycats vs. Birdville – Feb. 10
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