Lady Flames claim victory against Conroe Covenant Christian
MARBLE FALLS — Two years ago, the Faith Academy girls basketball team hosted the area championship game at its home gym, The Fire Pit.
The Lady Flames lost to Victoria Faith Academy, leaving the playoffs in the second round for the second worse playoff finish by a Marble Falls Faith girls team in the history of the program.
Faith Academy junior guard Bekah Graham drives to the basket in the win against Conroe Covenant Christian 64-17 Feb. 18. Courtesy photo
So when the Lady Flames (31-4) welcomed Conroe Covenant Christian, senior post Brooke Field and junior guard Bailey Brinkley, members of the 2008-2009 squad that lost to Victoria, took it upon themselves to ensure an early exit didn’t happen again.
They led Faith to a 64-17 victory Feb. 18.
The dynamic duo combined to score all of Faith’s first 14 points in three minutes. Brinkley recorded three steals, three layups and a free throw, then earned three assists thanks to Field’s trio of consecutive buckets.
"I wouldn’t trade my two for any two in (the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools)," head coach Jerry English said. "They do more together than most teams. I’m very proud of them."
Brinkley and Field still remember how they felt when they left their home gym two years ago when the Lady Flames were ranked in the top five in the small privates schools poll and didn’t advance to the state tournament.
"Crazy motivated," Field said. "I remember that feeling. I knew that was something I never want to experience again. We attacked it as hard as we could and kept it going."
"I think we didn’t want that to happen again to us," Brinkley said. "We didn’t want them to think they had a chance."
Faith will face San Antonio Lutheran 6 p.m. Feb. 25 at Austin St. Michael’s Academy, a team the Lady Flames have beaten twice already this season 57-51 Nov. 10 and 48-45 Dec. 3.
The Lady Flames scored at least 15 points per quarter and didn’t allow Covenant to score more than seven.
"I felt like our defensive pressure changed the game," English said.
"We didn’t play our game," Covenant head coach Darwood Heldman said. "And they played very good defense."
Field led with 19 points followed by Brinkley with 10 and younger sister Sierra Brinkley added eight.
As a team, the Lady Flames recorded 23 offensive rebounds.