Lady Dawgs put on defensive showcase in bi-district win against Smithville
The Burnet High School girls basketball team is all smiles after crushing Smithville 62-28 on Feb. 13 for a bi-district championship. The Lady Dawgs, who finished second in District 19-4A, will face Fairfield in the area round of the playoffs at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, at Lorena High School. Courtesy photo
STAFF WRITER JENNIFER FIERRO
ROUND ROCK — The Burnet High School girls basketball team steamrolled Smithville 62-28 to secure a bi-district championship Feb. 13.
The Lady Dawgs (21-13, 10-2 in District 19-4A) trailed 6-2 early before an avalanche of offensive production.
Next up for the Lady Dawgs is Fairfield at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, at Lorena High School, 1 Leopard Lane in Lorena, in the area round of the playoffs.
“I’m so proud of the girls. They played extremely hard,” Burnet head coach Rick Gates said. “We executed the game plan, and we had to make adjustments at halftime.”
While junior post Kathleen Fipps got the Lady Dawgs on the board against Smithville to trim the deficit to 4-2, it was senior forward Escamilla who gave her team the lead.
Escamilla scored the next seven points to give Burnet at 9-6 lead that it never relinquished. In fact, the Lady Dawgs ended the quarter on a 14-0 run for a 16-6 advantage headed into the second stanza.
The game quickly escalated from there as the Lady Dawgs built a 25-7 lead that went to 30-15 by halftime.
In the second half, the Lady Dawgs played their most impressive eight minutes of the contest.
Burnet outscored the Lady Tigers 16-0 thanks to numerous steals from a stingy defense that quickly turned into scoring opportunities. By the end of the third, the Lady Dawgs led 46-15.
“We were able to separate and had a great victory,” Gates said. “We’re proud of our defense. We’re proud of that. You can come out and play great defense every night. Just because things aren’t working for us as easily on the offensive end, they don’t get down. They continue to play hard and do well defensively.”
Escamilla led all scorers with 18 points followed by junior guard Trynadee Greenwell with 10. Senior guards Baby Romero and Taylor Moore and junior guard Emma Lewis each added eight.