High School Basketball

Katy survives Tompkins comeback, cements spot atop district

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 1/10/23

“It’s a great feeling,” said Brianna Nelson. We’ve lost to them the past few years and really struggled, so to get both wins over them this season in special. It’s just an amazing feeling because we’ve put so much work into this and you can see it paying off.”

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High School Basketball

Katy survives Tompkins comeback, cements spot atop district

Posted

Katy had been looking forward to Tuesday all season.

The Tigers had marked the Tompkins game on their calendars, they knew coming into the season how important it would be to beat a team that they had struggled against the previous two years, and they knew how important it would be to beat Tompkins if they wanted to achieve their goal of winning a District 19-6A title.

After Tuesday, it’s mission accomplished to the first of the Tigers goals, and they’ve set themselves up well for the rest of the district schedule after a huge 51-48 win over Tompkins, as Katy pulled two games ahead of the pack for the first spot in district with the win.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Brianna Nelson. We’ve lost to them the past few years and really struggled, so to get both wins over them this season in special. It’s just an amazing feeling because we’ve put so much work into this and you can see it paying off.”

Katy came out defensively in a box-and-one defense, as they were focused on slowing down Macy Spencer, one of the toughest offensive players to guard in the district.

The tactic worked, as the senior was limited to just three points in the first half by the stingy Katy defense. Everyone on Tompkins struggled in the first half and Katy took advantage, taking those misses and turning them into transition opportunities and points as they took a 28-15 lead at halftime. A big reason for that was the play of Nelson, who was a force on the boards and in the paint through the whole game.

“Brianna is just such a presence down there,” said Katy head coach Shanna Marhofer. “Whether it’s posting up, rebounding, scoring, she just does it all and plays her role. She does everything right, she works to get space, she boxes out and she does all of the little things. Brianna understands her role on the team is being in that rebound game, she has so many double-doubles this year and it’s because she has that heart.”

Katy knew Tompkins would make a run and it happened in the second half. The Falcons offense found their rhythm in the third quarter before Spencer willed the team back into things in the fourth quarter. Katy had to hold on as Spencer scored 14 points in the fourth and brought the Falcons all the way from 11 down with just over three minutes to go to three points down in the final seconds.

“We just had to want it,” said junior guard Ashlynn Alexander. “We had to not let the fatigue get to us, not make bad decisions and play the best defense we could. It got close but we knew that we would make the plays when we needed to.”

In the end, it was Katy which pulled out the win and Katy which is in prime position to go and clinch a district title if they take care of business the rest of the way, as the Tigers sit two games up on Tompkins, which is in second place.

But the Tigers work isn’t over, and they know there can be no let ups the rest of the way.

“This win was so huge, our kids just wanted it,” said Katy head coach Shanna Marhofer, “They’ve been locked in preparing for this and they couldn’t wait or this game to get here. They played so well, especially in the first half tonight. But we’re not done, we have a lot of talent in this district, and every team is coming for us. We have to stay focused in practice and in preparation, no one is going to give us any games.”

District 19-6A

Katy 51, Tompkins 48

Points: (K) Lyric Barr 17, Ella Robinson 13, Brianna Nelson 12, Ashlynn Alexander 6, Nyla Wold 3; (T) Macy Spencer 24, Gabby Panter 12, Rihanna DeLeon 5, Bella Riggan 5, Sascha Coughran 2, Fiyin Adeleye 1;

Halftime: Katy 28-15; 3-pointers: (K) Robinson 3, Barr 2, Wold; (T) Spencer 5, Riggan, DeLeon, Panter; Records: (K) 23-1, 9-0; (SL) 19-6, 7-2;

Katy ISD, Katy, Tompkins, sports, basketball, sports, girls