Aldine – After the nerves vanished, Cedar Park took control of the game early and often.
The Timberwolves still remember the painful loss to Rudder in the area round of the playoffs last season. It served as a momentum boost on Friday night as it knocked off Hightower, 56-40 in the Class 5A Region III Semifinals at the Campbell Center.
Cedar Park (33-3) will face College Station in the regional finals with a chance to gain a berth in next weekend’s UIL state championships in San Antonio.
After trailing 7-1 in the opening moments of the game, Cedar Park unleashed it’s assertive man to man defense, which spurred a 6-0 run to produce its first lead of the game, 8-7 with 3:40 left in the first quarter.
“We knew what to expect from them,” Timberwolves guard Gisella Maul said. “They’re a great team and very fast. We’ve played similar teams. We kept our composure when they ran off to a 7-1 start. We talked about it during the timeout.”
Center Shelby Hayes led three Timberwolves in double figures with 17 points and eight rebounds. Nicole Leff tossed in 14 points, ten rebounds, and Gisella Maul added 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Hightower’s Destini Lombard responded by nailing a trey to put the Hurricanes (31-7) back up, 10-8. However, Cedar Park’s answer led it on an 8-0 run when Nicole Leff’s layup knotted the game at 10. Then Hanna Wheeler and Leff drained back to back treys, increasing the lead, 16-10 after one-quarter of play.
Johnson led Hightower with 17 points.
Leff drilled a three-pointer to put the Timberwolves up nine, 19-10, with less than a minute into the second quarter. But the lady Hurricanes battled back, closing the lead to three points twice in the quarter. Hightower’s Lombard swished a trey, and guard Zaria Johnson converted a layup to make the score, 19-16. Then Timberwolves sensational freshman Maul scored a layup to increase the lead, 21-16 before Johnson pulled up in the lane, knocking down a mid-range jumper to cut the lead, 21-18.
“They are extremely athletic, and we knew that coming in,” says Cedar park coach Donny Off. “They have some great players. They try to play off the bounce and get to the rim. Do a little bit of dribble drive. We try to do a good job of eliminating that.”
Cedar Park led 30-20, opening the third quarter, but again Johnson and Lombard used consecutive layups to cut Cedar Parks lead to six, 30-24. Consistently finding scoring opportunities, the Timberwolves kept a cushion.
The remainder of the quarter watched both teams trade baskets with Cedar Park taking a 41-33 advantage into the final quarter.
The Timberwolves would turn up its pressuring man to man defense, forcing ten turnovers during the final 12 minutes of the game.
Hightower struggled to knock down open shots and found it challenging to keep pace with the Timberwolves offense.
Cedar Park matched its largest lead of the game in the fourth quarter up 43-33 after sophomore Shelby Hayes layup with 5:52 remaining. The Timberwolves continued its motion-filled half-court offense, which showed great spacing and the ability to share the ball among each other.
“I thought our team did a great job of executing our game plan against a superior athletic team,” coach Off explained.
As the final quarter progressed, the game quickly got away from the Hurricanes. The fouls mounted, turnovers became the enemy, and the Timberwolves could smell blood, attacking both ends of the court.
Within a two minute span, Maul, Hayes, Alisa Knight, and Leff scored baskets to widen Cedar Parks lead to 17 points, 50-33 with under three minutes to play.
Johnson’s free-throw stopped the Timberwolves run, 50-34. Yet Cedar Park kept pressuring the ball as its lead swelled to 19 points, 54-34 as time continued to tick away.
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