Your first place Mckinney Christian Academy Lady Mustangs travelled Tuesday night into the Tigers den and came out bruised, battered, but victorious in the battle for the 2015-16 District 3-3A Championship, defeating the host Trinity Christian School Tigers with a dramatic overtime victory, 47-44. The Mustangs were led by their Sr Captain Hannah Wilks who scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds at the raucous TCS gym. The game was as hotly contested as it was expected to be between the two leaders of the district. TCS entered the game with a 24-4 (10-1) record, a step behind the 23-3 (12-0) Lady Mustangs as the Mustangs had taken round one in Mckinney 54-45 back in early January. In the meantime, the two teams have made mincemeat of the rest of district competition, each averaging greater than 30 point margins of victory in the other district contests. The rematch promised fireworks and high drama and did not disappoint in either category. Of course, we had seen this movie before. Last year the Tigers came from behind in their first meeting to nip the Mustangs 49-47 at the TCS gym. The Mustangs then regrouped to take the rematch in Mckinney and then won the rubber match playoff for the number one seed at Dallas Lutheran's neutral gymnasium.
In fact, Tuesday's game was all too similar to that first game at TCS last year as the Mustangs saw an 11 point halftime lead in both contests evaporate by game's end. However, just like last year, these Mustangs, and in particular, Captain Wilks, were determined to have the final say and the top spot heading into the playoffs. Trinity took the first lead Tuesday night at 2-0 on a drive by Senior Kayla Barber who had hurt the Mustangs in the first encounter with 3 three pointers. It would be the only lead of the night for the Tigers. Jr point guard Mikayla Kuehne answered with a 14 foot jumper from the left side and proceeded to shred the Tiger defense with drives and assists to Sr post Co Captain Makenna Schulte who scored 3 close range baskets. Marissa Wilks then hit a set shot from the left elbow before Hannah got rolling with a driving three point play from the right lane and a three point bomb from the top of the key as the Mustangs built a 16-8 first quarter lead. The Mustang's defense was determined to eliminate the Tigers three point shots, they had hit 5 of them in January, and they were successful, at least early on. More on that later. The Tigers only managed 6 more points, all on free throws, the rest of the period.
The Mustang defense continued to stymie the Tigers who could find no path to the basket in the second quarter. Any drive they initiated resulted in a fruitless shot attempt and the Mustangs fought to control the boards against the tall and rangy Tigers. Their contested outside shots could find no purchase. Finally, the Tigers got through to their big 6-2 post Deontae Ingram who scored on a drive left to the basket. More distressing to the Mustang faithful, however, was the third foul whistled on Schulte early in the period that forced her to the bench. Super sub, Jr Jackie Greenwell, replaced Schulte and provided instant dividends with a put back on a Mustang miss and scored again on an amazing sequence of events. A Mustang air ball from the right side hit the floor and was headed deep out of bounds when Hannah lept across the line and deftly tipped the ball to Marissa who drove hard to the lane drawing a horde of Tigers. She went high as for a shot and then dropped to Greenwell on the backside for another deuce. Hannah followed that with a flying rebound off of another missed three point attempt. She went hard to the glass against Ingram and Barber who combined to put her on the floor hard, but not before she scored the bucket. She hit the bonus for a 23-12 advantage, but the free throw was disallowed on a lane violation. On the next trip down the floor Jr shooting guard Emilie Brochu rained a trey from the heavens for a 25-12 lead, but Whitney Nemons of the Tigers drove the lane for bucket at the buzzer to close to 11 at 25-14. Every bucket would count in this one.
The Mustangs tried to put the Tigers away in the third but could get the lead no larger than 13 and had it as late as 2:30 to go in the period. Schulte returned to score on a fast break. Kuehne scored a jumper from the right side off a feed from Hannah and then followed that with a running scoop in the lane for a 33-20 lead, but the Tigers closed with a flourish. Jawana Brazzle and Asia Roy would score on layups through the suddenly porous Mustangs defense. Hannah was hammered hard in the lane by Ingram as she moved in for a layup on the right block. She got up slowly off the hardwoods, recovering enough to make one of two free throws to get to 34. Tahren Hartfield scored a jumper following a Mustang turnover and Brazzle closed with another runner through the defense to cut the lead to 7 at 34-27 as the third quarter ended, but not before Hartfield collided with Kuehne who was on the dribble. Kuehne ended up on the floor and for her efforts got awarded her fourth foul, a player possession foul for her troubles. Everything the Mustangs had worked for was suddenly in jeopardy and visions of the first loss to Trinity began to dance in the MCA coaches' heads, perhaps even in some of the players. The TCS team, their fans and the whole gym was now heated to a fever pitch. It would get hotter.
Old Mo had switched from MCA blue and gold to his Tiger blue and white for the final act. The Tigers sensed a chink of vulnerability in the Mustang armour and they accelerated their attack. The Tigers got the ball to open the final quarter and bam, Brazzle drove the lane again as the Mustangs parted and now the lead was immediately down to 5 as the home crowd howled. The Mustangs appeared to lose their cool and on the next 7 possessions of ineptitude tried to give the game away. with TO, miss,miss, TO,TO,TO,TO, air ball. However, the Mustang defense kept them in the game as they denied the Tigers after each miscue. Hannah finally broke the drought with a putback to go back 7 with 4 minutes to play, but Barber answered with a wild hookshot prayer that was answered, 36-31.
So this was clearly not one of those explosive or skillfull offensive games that the Mustangs have played this year. The same team that shot 95% and hung 53 first half points on Texoma Christian or even the one that lit up Ovilla for 29 first quarter points or the same team that scored 20 or more points in a quarter 20 times this year including 21 in the decisive 4th quarter earlier this year against these same Tigers, could not get out of their own way. The question was would they have enough in the tank to pull this one out ? To shorten the game they went to the delay game and ran a minute of clock before being whistled for another questionable offensive foul as little Emilie Brochu was apparently offending the two Tigers that were harrassing her in the trap. Nemons quickly scored on a putback off of a missed corner three and the lead had shrunk to 3 at 36-33 with 2 to play.
The Mustangs needed a play and they got a big one as point guard Kuehne broke the delay game with a quick reverse move at the top and a hard dribble to the basket on the right side to go back to 5 at 38-33. The Tigers countered with their strength as Ingram put a sweet spin move on Hannah for a reaching bank shot and it was 38-35 with 1:17 to play. The Mustangs ran the clock to one minute before Marissa was fouled. They knew it was coming, they had discussed it in pregame, but talking about and making freethrows in crunch time are two different things. These Mustangs are normally better than average free throw shooters, but they went ice cold as Marissa missed the front end of the one on one and Kuehne did it two more times in the last minute. Meanwhile, Hartfield drove the baseline and dished to Brazzle for two as the lead was now down to one at 38-37 with 45 tics to play. After the Mustang misses, the Tigers had two consecutive chance to take the lead for the first time since the opening minute. Each time they were rebuffed, once on a steal by Kuehne and the second when Schulte dove for a loose ball in the lane.
If the last minute seemingly took forever to play, the last 11.5 seconds took an eternity. After Schulte's tie up, Keuhne inbounded to Hannah who was immediately fouled with 10.8 to go. She makes the first and misses the second and Schulte is called for her 5th foul going for the rebound with Ingram as only 0.5 seconds expired. Fortunately Ingram misses the front end of the one and one and Hannah rebounds and outlets to Marissa who is fouled. Still 8.2 seconds remain. She misses the first freebie in the double bonus, but adjusts her stance and hits what proves to be a very big free throw , probably the biggest of the game because TCS immediately sprints up the floor and attacks the right side where they find resistance from Brochu and Greenwell. Brazell then swings the ball to Sr forward Sydney Cole as the clock runs down to three seconds. Cole, who has not scored a point against the Mustangs in two games, then steps up to, or over the three point line, depending on quite literally, your point of view, and launches a high arching shot and as you might guess, it hits nothing but net as the clock expires.
Confusion and his cousin Chaos then took center stage. No one knew what to do . The Mustangs began to celebrate as the scorekeeper put two points on the board, flashing the 40-39 final. The Tigers began to jump up and down. The crowd on both sides screamed and cheered. One official behind the play raised his hand to signal a three pointer. The official beside the play and the one on the baseline seemed to indicate a two pointer. The officials huddled center court to powwow. The fans waited in anticipation as the chin wag continued. Soon the Tiger faithful began to chant "Three!, Three! , Three!" while the Mustang fans countered " Two! , Two !, Two!" . In a scene reminiscent of the popular Discount Double Check commercial the officials continued to discuss the differing points of view. After some deliberation the official trailing the play carried the day, He raised both hands signaling a three pointer and the home crowd erupted. It was on to overtime.
In the big games a team needs their stars to standout and fortunately for the Mustangs they have Hannah Wilks. After the teams traded misses, Hannah took the ball at the top of the key and drove hard right against Cole in the man defense, was fouled and converted her 4th "and one" of the night. These in addition to her first quarter long range three ball as she came up with big play after big play and rebound after rebound. Fouled again later in OT she hit 2 of 2 for a 45-40 lead but the big, stocky Ingram grabbed an offensive board crashing hard on Kuehne's back sending her to the floor, scoring a put back and then falling on Kuehne to add insult to injury. It was 45-42 with 30 seconds to play. Kuehne was down for a while but gamely regained her footing to throw the inbounds to Hannah who was fouled again with 26 to play. She drops one of two and the Tigers quickly advance the ball up the right side. Asia Roy hits Brazzle again on the back side for a layup and it was back to two at 46-44. Hannah was quickly fouled again with 11.3 to go.
Right now we are thinking Ground Hog Day or Deja Vu all over again, or the return of the Curse of Cami Shannon * especially when Hannah misses the first free throw, calmly makes the second for a 47-44 lead, and when the Tigers advance the ball up the floor with a chance to tie as the clock ran down. With two seconds to play the ball returned to the arc and guess who, the heroine of regulation, Sydney Cole. This time she was better defended by Greenwell and her shot was on line but just short. The Mustangs went into celebration for real this time claiming their 4th straight district Championship. With the win MCA moved to a 24-3 (13-0) record and an insurmountable two game lead in district 3 3-A.
Hannah led all scorers with 21 points and added 15 rebounds and 3 blocks. Kuehne had 8 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists. Schulte also had 8 points and 4 boards. Greenwell scored 4 points and had 3 offensive rebounds. Marissa had 3 points and 8 rebounds while Brochu had 3 points.
By Qtrs 1 2 H 3 4 OT Final
MCA 16 9 25 9 6 7 47
TCS 8 6 14 13 13 4 44
* The Curse of Cami Shannon. Three years ago when Hannah Wilks and Makenna Schulte were freshmen, MCA squared off in similar fashion with Dallas Lutheran, their rival at that time, with the district championship on the line. Again the Mustangs led by 3 as the clock ran down. With the Lutheran stars covered, a little scoring freshman, named Cami Shannon, hit a three at the buzzer , forcing overtime. In the first OT the Mustangs built a three point lead again when the Lions three point attempt was off, however the rebound went to a Lion in the lane who kicked to Shannon on the right wing. As the clock ran down she drained another three to force a second OT. The Mustangs prevailed in the second OT by 3 with Shannon fouled out on the bench. Okay it is not exactly a curse, but come on, you can'tt make this stuff up. Its hard on an old coach.
Yours in Him,
Coach Brock