Aledo honors seniors with 62-45 win vs Hornets

For the first time in program history last year, the Aledo Bearcats won a district championship. This season, the Bearcats amended the record books in an impressive way as the team was honored with another district crown and the program’s first back-to-back district titles – and consecutive 20-win seasons – in program history.

To celebrate the feat, Aledo notched a 62-45 win over the visiting Azle Hornets on Senior Night following the girls’ dominant win.

“For a first year head coach at a new school, it’s important to have commitment from your team, and I think that starts with the seniors,” Bearcats head coach Andrew Baker said. “These guys have been everything a coach could ask for. They work their tails off, they enjoy coming in and being around each other. When they have a bad moment or a bad game, they respond really well. We’re not where we are as a program without this group.”

Baker showcased an all-senior starting lineup and the Bearcats closed the first quarter strong as Enrique Pacheco’s 3-pointer with 1:52 left gave Aledo the lead at 11-9. Later in the frame, junior guard Josiah Jenkins canned a triple with 25 seconds remaining in response to a long ball by Azle that kept Aledo in front 14-12 entering the second quarter.

Senior forward Townes Van Huysen got the crowd rocking with an emphatic two-handed flush down the lane that preceded another triple by Pacheco, which elevated Aledo’s advantage to 19-14 with 6:10 left before halftime.

As Azle continued to stay close, a big 3-pointer by junior guard Caden Cunningham cushioned the lead to 24-18 with 3:15 to go. After that, Braxton Hamric’s steal began a solid sequence as his pass to Dylan Pipkins eventually found a streaking Pacheco for the lay-in with 2:41 left. With the lead now at 26-18, visiting Azle was forced to call a timeout, but the Bearcats used their momentum through the half in what resulted in a 9-0 closing run.

Aledo turned a 30-18 halftime advantage into an even larger margin following a 7-0 opening run. Later in the frame, Cunningham drove to the basket and finished a nice lefty drive that gave Aledo its first 20-point lead at 39-19 with 5:10 left in the third, and Pacheco buried a pair of three’s in the closing minutes to keep Aledo in front 49-31 entering the fourth quarter. Azle clawed to within nine points in the waning minutes, but Aledo retaliated with a closing 8-0 run for the 17-point victory.

“We’ve been really tough and we’ve responded well but, moving forward as we head into the last district game and playoffs, we physically have to be a little tougher, especially on the glass,” Baker said. “We struggled rebounding a little bit early, and I think that’s an area we’ve got to get better at. We also need to value the ball. I mean, we’re averaging 60-plus points a game, so we’re scoring the ball well. It sounds silly to say we need to value the ball, but we’ve just got to turn it over a little bit less. Those two things could be the difference in a playoff game.”

Pacheco led the way with a game-high 16 points while Van Huysen contributed with 13 points. Cunningham added seven points while Jenkins and Pipkins recorded six points apiece.

The Bearcats (25-6, 11-0) will conclude their regular season at 8 p.m. Friday at home against Brewer.