The Ladycats saw 10 different players score on a night where head coach Donnie Ott emptied the benches with nearly six minutes left in the fourth quarter and already plenty of playing time under their belts. The result was one that saw Aledo distributing and scoring the ball at will.
“It was fun to watch. It really was because we moved the ball really well,” Ott said. “They (Azle) kind of surprised us a little bit because the first time they played us, it was all man-to-man defense, and this time it was pretty much all zone, which was good because we needed to see something like that heading into the playoffs. It was good for us to see those holes in the zone, move the ball like we did and hit some open shots.”
The shotmaking not only builds confidence with the second unit but also helps the team itself execute at a higher level to do what they do best – defend and score on the break.
“All of us are scoring all over the place, there’s not just one of us,” said senior forward Tiara Butler, who scored a game-high 19 points. “We play as a team and a collective whole, and I think it’s really hard for teams to scout us that haven’t played against us since we’re all so connected, we know we can all pass the ball to and trust each other.”
Aledo raced out to a 19-2 lead through one quarter, capped off by a late 3-pointer from Sarah Edwards, and continued its scoring blitz in the second quarter as Butler scored inside twice during the first minute and star senior Elizabeth Griffin followed with a triple at the 6:29 mark for a 26-2 advantage. The opening 14-0 second-quarter surge concluded with an old-fashioned three-point play by junior Brooklyn Dempsey, whose free throw with 4:22 to go gave Aledo a 33-2 cushion.
“They’re just collectively pulling everybody along with them and just giving them confidence, because sometimes when there’s a ‘big three’ so to speak, the rest of the people feel like they’re just there, you know?” Ott said of Butler, Dempsey and Griffin. “But these girls feel like they have a role, they’re important and they understand those big three are going to share the ball and find them when they’re open in the right place.”
To his point, Kate Jackson has seen her scoring average increase to 10 points per game while Brenna Clock has upped her average to four points per game. Against Azle, Griffin added 17 points to the cause while Edwards had eight points. Dempsey, Mesoma Emeka-Okoye and Jaylee Owens scored five points apiece while Jackson and Kennedy Cardenas finished with four points each. Sawyer Voight and Katleyn Lowe also chipped in with two points apiece as Aledo now rides its 10-game winning streak into the playoffs.
“We’re definitely confident,” Butler said. “We can’t stop just because we won the district championship, we have to keep our head in the game and continue practicing hard every practice. This is a lot of our senior year, so we have to give it our best.”
The Ladycats (24-7, 12-0) will begin their postseason march in the bi-district round at 5:30 p.m. Monday against Colleyville Heritage at Eagle Mountain High School.
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