High School Basketball

Cinco Ranch cruises past Paetow, keeps pace in district playoff race

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 1/28/23

“I think we just need to continue what we’ve been doing,” Williams said. “We have to listen to our coaches, know what we need to do when we go out there every night and listen to the minor details that we need to fix the rest of the way. If we do that we’ll be in really good shape.”

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High School Basketball

Cinco Ranch cruises past Paetow, keeps pace in district playoff race

Posted

Aniya Foy and Dani Williams feed off each others presence on the basketball court.

The backcourt duo has grown over the past two seasons together and is the motor for the Cougars offense, and they have had the Cougars in a strong spot in district all season.

That connection has been key to Cinco Ranch’s success, and it was there once again as the two led the Cougars to a 60-32 win over Paetow, as Cinco Ranch kept pace in the District 19-6A playoff race, staying in third place as the regular season enters the home stretch.

“We just read each other and know how to work together,” said Foy, a sophomore guard. “We’ve been playing with each other for almost two seasons now and we just know how each other are going to play, we make plays off each other and it just makes the game easier for both of us.”

Foy and Williams combined for 37 points in the win, with Foy scoring 21 and Williams scoring 16 in the win in a game that Cinco Ranch had control over from start to finish.

The Cougars jumped out to a four point lead in the fourth quarter but quickly ballooned that to an 11 point lead at the end of the second as they ended the half up 24-13.

And as much as the offense did for the Cougars, it was the defense that had the biggest impact, as they held the Panthers to just one double digit scorer and held Paetow under 10 points in all but one quarter on the night.

“The girls have really committed to playing on that end of the floor,” said Cinco Ranch head coach Tamara Collier. “They’re communicating and talking back there and it’s made a big difference. It helps their rotates and switching and it just goes a long way in winning games.”

The Cougars put things beyond a doubt in the third quarter, going up by 16 points before cruising the rest of the way in the fourth.

“We’ve been working on our passing as a team and wanting to make sure on every possession we have as many players touch the ball as possible,” Williams said. “It’s just a lot of team stuff that’s improved our offense. We’ve been picking at a lot of details in practice and getting better with that because it opens up the floor with everyone. That’s something we’ve started to do really well I think.”

The win keeps Cinco Ranch just half a game back of Tompkins and in the third spot in district. The Cougars have two games remaining, going up against two of the tougher teams in district in Katy and Seven Lakes to close things out, and they know they cant afford to take their foot off the gas.

“I think we just need to continue what we’ve been doing,” Williams said. “We have to listen to our coaches, know what we need to do when we go out there every night and listen to the minor details that we need to fix the rest of the way. If we do that we’ll be in really good shape.”

District 19-6A

Cinco Ranch 60, Paetow 32

Points: (CR) Aniya Foy 21, Dani Williams 16, Camille Torrence 8, Madison Lee 5, Emerson Brown 4, Holly Frith 3, Sofia Budnik 1; (P) Lyne Lagat 15, Tiera Hall 7, Gabrielle Barnes 4, Lauren Johnson 4, Trinity Brown 2

Halftime: Cinco Ranch 24-13; 3-Pointers: (CR) Foy; (P) Lagat; Records: Cinco Ranch: 24-8, 10-4; Paetow: 14-12, 6-7;

Katy ISD, District 19-6A, Cinco Ranch, Paetow, sports, basketball, girls