It’s been a tight, hard fought first half of the basketball season in Katy ISD.

As schools went into the winter break and get close to finishing the first half of district, the top teams have started to cement themselves and make a run towards contending for the District 19-6A title.

On the girls side, Katy has become the front runner after a tremendous run to start district play.

The Tigers have won 13 straight games and have cemented themselves across the district standings by starting district play 6-0 while moving to 19-1 on the season.

They have done things with tremendous play on both sides of the ball, with an offense that has been unselfish, gets up and down the court and has many different contributors and a defense that is smothering and never lets just one player beat them.

“This team can do a lot of different things,” said Katy head coach Shanna Marhofer. “We have girls that can shoot all over the court, girls that can attack the basket. The length we have creates turnovers, steals and they rebound well too. And when we do get the rebound every one of them can take off. It’s just been a whole team effort of everyone doing the little things well.”

The Tigers have earned big wins over two of their big contenders in district this year in Tompkins and Cinco Ranch, putting themselves in prime position to see things through in the second half of district play and claim their first district title since 2019.

But that will not be an easy task, Tompkins is only a game back in the race and has won three district titles in a row, while both Cinco Ranch and Paetow sit two games back with plenty of time left in the season. Taylor sits a game back of the playoffs and Seven Lakes sits a game and a half back, as the Spartans have work to do to get back in the playoff and district mix and fulfill the expectations of being ranked the No. 19 team in the state in this years preseason Texas Basketball Coaches Association poll. Jordan sits a half game back of the Spartans, while Mayde Creek and Morton Ranch are still searching for their first district wins on the year.

Spartans hold one game district lead heading into break

On the boys side, it’s been Seven lakes that has answered the bell once again, as they look to claim their second straight district title behind a high powered offense and a defense that has stifled district teams with its length and athleticism.

“We had a lot of growing we did in non-district,” said Seven Lakes head coach Shannon Heston. “It’s allowed us to make fewer mistakes and make other teams pay now that we’ve gotten to district because of how tough our non-district schedule was. We went through that growth and had teams take advantage when we made mistakes, and now our guys have realized not only how to fix those mistakes, but how to capitalize on it when other teams make those mistakes as well.”

The Spartans have been averaging over 75 points per game through district, while they have given up less than 60 on average, starting district 5-0 and riding an eight game win streak. Seven Lakes has already scored big wins over Tompkins and Jordan, but will be tested with their first district games back from the break when they play Katy followed by Cinco Ranch and Taylor, two playoff contenders.

Jordan has impressed in its first season in 6A and is tied with Cinco Ranch for second place in district, with both teams having only one loss on their district record thus far, while Taylor sits just a half game back of those two. Tompkins sits even at 2-2, just outside of the playoffs as of now, but the Falcons will be determined to get back into it, while Mayde Creek is 1-4 in district, but has been in almost every game so far in district, losing by one point to both Taylor and Tompkins and the Rams will definitely do everything in their power to get back in the playoff picture.  Paetow sits at one win in district as well while Morton Ranch and Katy are both searching for their first district wins of the seasons so far.

Things are shaping up to be exciting in the second half of district as teams look to cement their spot as a playoff team or get back I the hunt, while the teams at the top battle for the district title.