Seven Lakes overcomes Elkins runs to advance

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 2/15/22

“It means everything to get this win,” said senior forward Summer Halphen. “It’s really a proud moment for us, we worked so hard for this and we wanted it so badly. This is really what we were trying to do.”

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Seven Lakes overcomes Elkins runs to advance

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Seven Lakes was anxious to get the monkey off its back.

The Spartans had lacked a playoff win in each of the previous three seasons, despite making the playoffs each year.

This year, facing Fort Bend Elkins, the Spartans knew that it would be just as hard a task to advance, but were ready for the challenge.

“These seniors have been here for a while and they’ve been waiting for this moment,” said sophomore forward Justice Carlton. “They’ve wanted to have a chance at this moment for a long time. Some of them have been counting down the days to get another chance, especially after last year’s bi-district game where we blew the lead to Ridge Point. Everyone was just excited to get on the court and have another opportunity.”

Seven Lakes came away with a 58-47 win in a scrappy game to advance to the area round, winning their first playoff win in four years.

“It means everything to get this win,” said senior forward Summer Halphen. “It’s really a proud moment for us, we worked so hard for this and we wanted it so badly. This is really what we were trying to do.”

Seven Lakes led 11-6 after the first quarter and used a strong second to make it a 17 point lead heading into the half as the Spartans jumped on Elkins early.

“The first half, we really dominated rebounding, that was what got us ahead was being so good with rebounding,” Carlton said. “We struggled a little bit at times, but we picked it up as the game went on.”

Elking went on a big run to open the third quarter and continued to trim things to single digits.

But every time the Knights got within five points of Seven Lakes, the Spartans would go on a mini run of their own to extend the lead, and this trend continued as Seven Lakes worked its way to the victory in the fourth.

“When somebody comes at you, you have to be able to respond to that,” said Seven Lakes head coach Angela Spurlock. “I was just extremely proud more than anything of the fact that when Elkins came rallying back, we stayed calm. We didn’t execute as perfectly as we would have liked, but we stayed calm enough to push the lead back to nine and make it more comfortable.”

Carlton finished the night with 23 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks, while Halphen had six points, and 13 rebounds. KK Tucker also played a big part in the win with 13 points and four other players chipped in with four points to help the Spartans advance.

Seven Lakes advances to play Cy-Fair in the Class 6A area round, time and date to be determined.

“It’s a great win for us,” Spurlock said. “But this isn’t’ the final goal, we have to go back to practice, regroup and get ready to go on.”

Class 6A b-district

Seven Lakes 58, Fort Bend Elkins 47

Points: (SL) Justice Carlton 23, KK Tucker 13, Summer Halphen 6, Lenore Hudspeth 4, Aliyah Atiqi 4, Caitlyn Quintero 4, Shea McFarland 4; (E) Zaya Adagbada 15, Cecily Callegari 8, Kathleen Mbatchou 7, Maddie Rhea 7, Paris Anderson 4, Kaylan Woodrow 2

Halftime: Seven Lakes 31-14; 3-pointers: (E) Adagbada 3; Records: Seven Lakes 31-6; Elkins 11-17

Katy ISD, Seven Lakes, basketball, sports, high school, girls