Faith Academy girls basketball season ends with state semifinals loss
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
MANSFIELD — Confusion marked the final 10 seconds of the game between the Faith Academy girls basketball team and Sherman Texoma in the Class 2A state semifinals of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools on March 1.In the end, Texoma held the ball and had more points for a 46-43 victory. The Lady Eagles will now play for their fifth Class 2A state title in the past six years.
Trailing 46-43 toward the end of the game, it seemed the Lady Flames (36-3) had forced a 10-second violation to get the ball with six-tenths of a second remaining.
Instead, officials, after huddling for about two minutes, called together the two head coaches, put four seconds on the clock and awarded possession to the Lady Eagles.
From there, Faith fouled, but there wasn’t enough time to put Texoma on the free-throw line.
So all the Lady Eagles had to do was inbound the ball and run their winning streak against the Lady Flames, dating to 2007, to 3-0.
Faith head coach Jerry English said officials told him one of them blew an inadvertent whistle.
“It couldn’t have been a 10-second violation,” he recalled them saying.
Still, he credited his players for all they’ve accomplished, notably seniors Bailey Brinkley and Rebekah Graham. Faith’s 36 wins in a single season ties the most of any English-coached team. Under the directon of English, Pflugerville had a 36-0 record but lost in the regional final to Barber’s Hill in the 1970s.
“I just couldn’t be more proud of a group of players,” he said about his Lady Flames. “We’ve won and lost together. That’s what made it so enjoyable.”
To English, the game wasn’t decided in the final moments. It came down to things such as Faith’s 16-of-37 shooting from the foul line. The Lady Flames were 2-for-7 in the final quarter alone.
“Every time we had an opportunity to add more, we’d miss a free throw,” he said. “It just gnaws me greatly they’ve beaten us three times, but that’s the way it goes.”
The final period started with junior post Juliette Fisher scoring to give the Lady Flames a 32-31 lead and extend Faith’s run to 9-2. She and post Graham combined to score nine points in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter for a 39-37 lead.
But Faith only scored four more points the rest of the way. The Lady Eagles, meanwhile, outscored the Lady Flames 6-0 in the final three minutes.
In the first quarter, the Lady Flames trailed 13-6 but went on an 8-0 run led by guard Brinkley and sophomore point guard Taylor Denton. When Brinkley completed a three-point play 35 seconds into the second period, she gave Faith a 14-13 lead.
But once the Lady Flames led 20-15, the Lady Eagles answered with a 6-1 run in the final four minutes of the second quarter to ensure a 21-21 halftime tie.
Each team had a run in the third quarter. Texoma was first with an 8-2 run for a 29-23 lead. But an English timeout prompted Faith to answer with a 7-2 run to end the period. The Lady Eagles led 31-30 headed into the final period.
ON OFFENSE: Points – B. Brinkley 18, Fisher 11, Denton 5, Joanna Piatek 4, Graham 3, Kristen Cherry 2
jfierro@thepicayune.com