Cinco Ranch wants to make a statement this year.

The Cougars have been a good team over the past few years, but this season they have loftier goals. They want to challenge for a district title, they want to play in and win important games in the playoffs and they want to prove just how good they are.

Cinco (8-2, 1-0) took a step towards proving that point on Tuesday, starting District 19-6A play off with a dominant 61-52 win over Seven Lakes (3-6, 0-1) where the Cougars led wire to wire.

“This was huge for us,” said senior guard Aniya Foy. “We wanted to go out and show everyone what we were made of today. It was important for us to get off to a good start, build that momentum and keep building, because we have a very talented team.”

Foy had a huge presence on the game, scoring 25 points, jumping in passing lanes to make steals and helping lead the Cougars to the win. But it wasn’t just her. Camille Torrence scored 16 points, while Keeana Hickman scored nine and Maria Podskarbi scored eight in the win. That has been something that Cinco has focused on this year. In year’s past it was more of a one man show with Aniya leading the way, this year the team has more balance.

“I think we all just feed off each others energy and I try to be that person who leads by example,” Foy said. “I know that if I play hard, dive for loose balls and do all the hard stuff then everyone else will feed off it Everyone is making plays this year and I just love it.”

Cinco jumped out to a lead early and never let it go. The Cougars led 21-7 after the first quarter and increased that to 43-21 at halftime. It was 55-34 Cinco after three quarters before Seven Lakes trimmed the lead in the final quarter before the final whistle.

“We’re just trying to make the game easy,” said Cinco Ranch head coach LeVar Brown. “When I first got here, that was one of the biggest things I wanted to focus on and these girls are realizing, if they just make the right read, the right pass, then things are a lot easier and the game comes to you.”

The Cougars have had a great start to the year and have won four straight including their district opener. The goal now for them is to string this together and continue to show they are one of the best in district as the real competition begins.

“We want to show everyone who we are and what we do at Cinco Ranch,” Brown said. “Our motto is 100 for 100, we go 100 miles an hour, 100% of the time. We just want to play like that in every game, because if we do, we know people and other teams will say, ‘oh, ok, they’re here.’”

District 19-6A

Cinco Ranch 61, Seven Lakes 52

Points: (CR) Aniya Foy 25, Camille Torrence 16, Keeana Hickman 9, Maria Podskarbi 8, Lydia Polk 2, Luna Bazazy 1; (SL) Jessie Speer 15, Bre Kirtz 10, Willtrace Ngoh 10, Paloma Gasca 8, Sanai Core 4, Sophia Reukauf 3, Grace Falayi 2,

Halftime: Cinco Ranch 43-21; 3-Pointers: (CR) Hickman 3, Foy; (SL) Gasca 2, Speer 2, Reukauf; Records: Cinco Ranch: 8-2, 1-0; Seven Lakes: 3-6, 0-1