Cinco Ranch is hitting its stride.

The Cougars have found a way to continue to improve this year and have stayed at the front of the pack in District 19-6A because of it, competing well against everyone and finding ways to win even against the best competition.

Cinco Ranch took care of business on Tuesday and got one of its biggest wins of the year, beating Katy 52-46 to take sole possession of first place in district heading into the Christmas break.

The Cougars have had struggles against the Tigers over the past few years and it made the win all that sweeter for the team.

“We just played hard and that’s the key for everything,” said junior guard Aniya Foy. “We knew what we were in for today, we haven’t beat Katy in a while so our main focus was not ever letting them break us and finding a way to win. We did that and it’s a really good feeling.”

It was a tight game though that took the Cougars into the second half to pull away behind a strong defense and an offensive outburst from Foy.

Katy came out on fire from three-point range and the two teams were tied 13 before Katy ed 25-22 at halftime, mainly behind 14 points from Nyla Wold, who poured in four threes in the first half.

But Cinco started to dominate in the third quarter. The defense picked up and the Cougars only allowed two three pointers in the whole second half with Camille Torrence playing a big part in that with her play on the defensive end.

“Camille takes that role really seriously on our team,” said Cinco Ranch head coach Tamara Collier. “A lot of times when we play teams with a special player Camille will come to me and tell me she wants to lock them down. I appreciate her taking that leadership role and wanting to stop those offensive threats.”

Foy made the biggest impact on the offensive end as Cinco Ranch pulled away in the second half. She had 20 of her 26 points in the third and fourth quarters as the Cougars gained a 34-32 lead at the end of the third quarter before pushing that lead to double digits in the fourth and hanging on down the stretch.

“Aniya was doing so much in that first half, she was defending and rebounding and that’s what I have to remind her when her shot isn’t going in,” Collier said. “But she started feeling it in the second half and when that happens it’s go time. No one can guard her when Aniya is in that mindset. No one can stop her and when she does decide to take over like that, it not only opens things up for her teammates but it allows her to continue to build that confidence.”

The win puts the Cougars a half game up in first in the district standings, as the Cougars have not yet had their bye. Cinco will return from the break to play Manvel, before going on a very difficult stretch of their schedule, playing Seven Lakes, Taylor and Tompkins all in a row.

“This was an amazing feeling,” Torrence said. “I had never beaten Katy before so it was something we had all been wanting and for us to come out and put a performance like that together was huge.”

District 19-6A

Cinco Ranch 52, Katy 46

Points: (CR) Aniya Foy 26, Camille Torrence 15, Keeana Hickman 5, Ava Haven 2, Jinhwa Jung 2, Jordan Bristol 2; (K) Nyla Wold 17, Macey Spellins 8, Ashlynn Alexander 7, Kaysen Miller 6, Sophia Garza 6, Emma Lawler 2,

Halftime: Katy 25-22; 3-Pointers: (CR) Torrence 3, Hickman; (K) Wold 4, Garza 2, Spellins, Alexander; Records: Cinco Ranch: 13-5, 6-1; Katy 15-5, 4-2;