Cinco Ranch gave it everything.

The odds are always stacked against a four seed in the playoffs, but the Cougars were confident, had the fight and the belief to give whatever they could, but in the end came up just short, falling 48-39 to Hightower in the Class 6A Bi-District round of the playoffs.

“They played so hard tonight and I’m just proud of everything they put into today and everything they gave,” said Cinco Ranch head coach Tamara Collier. “We weren’t able to pull it out in the end and there were some things we could have done better, the girls pushed through it, and they gave us all they could, they kept fighting, we just couldn’t do some things that you have to do to win.”

Cinco Ranch came out strong in the game, taking a 12-11 lead after the first quarter and growing that to a six point lead as the teams went into halftime.

The Cougars were spearheaded by the efforts of Aniya Foy and Camille Torrence, who had seven and six points respectively at the half as Cinco Ranch used strong defense and efficient offense to take the lead.

“We just stayed together and played for each other,” Foy said. “We had to stay focused at all times and make things work. Sometimes things didn’t go our way but we tried to just stay mentally tough and play to the best of our abilities.”

But the Cougars fortunes turned in the second half, as Hightower started to get into the game. The Hurricanes started to impose their will on the boards, especially with offensive rebounds and quickly turned things around. Cinco tried to stay in it, but fell behind by six points heading into the final quarter. And the Cougars were unable to bring things back in the fourth.

“They just started to attack us and drawing fouls, and they really started to be better with rebounding and we weren’t able to respond to that. We were attacking, but we needed to finish stronger, because in the playoffs you aren’t always going to get calls. It just got away from us in that third quarter and weren’t able to come back from it down the stretch.”

Cinco Ranch will graduate seven seniors this year, and while the loss will impact the program, Collier knows the impact they’ve made and passed on to the younger players, and knows the team can continue to get better.

“They were the last group that was coached by the former Cinco Ranch coach from before I got here and I just appreciate them so much because when I came in, they made the adjustment and they tried to buy in completely,” Collier said. “They did what I asked them to do and they really made this year fun. It was a great group to coach and I loved every second of it.”

Class 6A Bi-District

Points: (CR) Aniya Foy 15, Camille Torrence 8, Dani Williams 5, Sophie Baran 4, Isabella Hartl 3, Holly Frith 2, Jinhwa Jung 2; (H) Madison Bob 24, Nia Reed 6, Chandler Preston-Caver 6, Kailee Beaudion-Foliaki 5, Breonna Shelby 4, Tiyianna Coulter-Hill 2, Alannah Nerocker 1;

Halfitme: Cinco Ranch 24-18; 3-Pointers: (CR) Foy 2, Torrence 2, Hartl; (H) Bob 5, Caver; Records: Cinco Ranch 24-11; Hightower: 31-3;