Lady Flames out of championship with loss to Texoma
FORT WORTH — The Faith Academy girls basketball team’s fourth trip to the Class 2A state tournament ended in a 58-49 loss to Sherman Texomain the title game Saturday.
Faith competes in the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
The Lady Flames, playing in their first championship contest, were down by as much as 17 points thanks Lady Eagle senior post Lauren Kirby.
Kirby scored in all sort of ways, from drives to the basket, moves on the low block and offensive rebounds. She finished with 31 points.
"She’s just a very talented young lady," Faith coach Jerry English said. "She was just too strong and too big for us."
Texoma won its fourth consecutive state championship game.
Kirby scored the game’s opening points, propelling the Lady Eagles to an 8-0 run that sent Faith into a timeout.
Faith junior post Brooke Field finally put the Lady Flames on the board with a free throw.
Teammate Bailey Brinkley took over. The sophomore guard scored on layups and 3-point plays, dropping in nine points, including a layup just before the horn sounded to end the first period with Faith trailing, 18-10.
Brinkley, Field and senior forward Shiloh Reaves each scored to trim the deficit, 22-18, with four minutes 11 seconds remaining in the half.
But Kirby was simply too much as she scored five points and assisted in another basket to give the Lady Eagles a 29-21 half-time advantage.
Kirby also was the catalyst in the third period, scoring nine of Texoma’s 18 points to give the Lady Eagles a 47-32 lead headed into the final quarter.
Faith had shots but was unable to score. Field dropped in eight of the Lady Flames’ 11 points in the period.
Both teams exchanged buckets during the first part of the final quarter.
Faith senior guard Tori Diamond banked a 3-pointer from the top of the key and later added two free throws alone with Reaves and Brinkley. That trimmed the deficit, 57-47, with 2:39 left.
Texoma called back-to-back timeouts and stalled the ball.
Meanwhile, when Faith got the ball back, the Lady Flames missed four shots in the lane.
Senior guard Brittany Scott scored the final basket for Faith, and both coaches put in reserves in the final four seconds.
English said his athletes never quit.
"They have been a joy every day," he said.