Tompkins players have been thrown in the first to start the season.

The Falcons coaching staff knew there were things that the players could only learn with game time and so they put them to the test early. The falcons played 12 games over the curse of two weeks in preparation for district play, and that extra tie on the court has started to show.

The Falcons (8-4) had the best performance of any Katy ISD school this week at the 32 team Katy ISD girls Hoops Classic, going 4-1 on the weekend and claiming the gold medal in the Katy Youth Basketball bracket. They capped off their strong tournament with a dominant win over Ridge Point on Saturday, beating the Panthers 57-44 behind a strong offensive effort and a suffocating defense that never allowed Ridge Point to get into the game.

“There’s just some things you need that extra game time for, so to have these extra reps before district is huge,” said junior point guard Sascha Coughran. “Everyone has been hard at work learning how to work together, building chemistry and playing off each other and I think you could really see that at this tournament.”

The duo of Rihanna DeLeon and Coughran will be front and center for the Falcons this year as they try and push for another district title and it’s a difficult tandem to stop. DeLeon led the Falcons with 24 points on Saturday while Coughran chipped in with 15 a night after scoring 41 points and 11 three pointers in a win over Fort Bend Austin.

“If one of us has a double then the other one is going to get open,” DeLeon said. “We both can get hot at any point and I just think it’s hard to guard both of us when we are on the court together.”

Tompkins came out firing in the game and took a 26-9 lead after just the first quarter and played complimentary basketball from there. The Falcons led 34-16 at half and never let their foot off the gas in the second half while still getting valuable minutes for the teams second unit and younger players.

The Falcons defense was maybe the most impressive part of the win. The Falcons switched from full court pressure, to traps to half-court man-to-man on a dime and from possession to possession. Ridge Point never could get comfortable as they saw a different defense every time down the court and Tompkins players were active everywhere, creating steals, deflections and turnovers which got them out in transition for easy buckets.

“We really take pride in the way this team can change defenses and give a different look every time down the court,” said Tompkins head coach Tamatha Ray. “The girls are super active, but even more than that it just confuses people to see all these different looks and offenses are having a hard time figuring it out. We’ve worked on it a lot and the girls have gotten really comfortable with it.”

Tompkins is coming off a year in which they won a share of the District 19-6A championship along with Seven lakes and just like every year, the standards will be high in the Falcons program. District is already about to begin and they know the focus has to be on getting better every step of the way and being ready for every opponent.

“I feel really good about what we have done so far this year, these girls are really buying in and improving,” Ray said. “I think we have checked all the boxes that we can check going into district so now for us it’s about focusing on ourselves and making sure we go out and play our best game.”

District 19-6A

Tompkins 57, Ridge Point 44

Points: (T) Rihanna DeLeon 24, Sascha Coughran 15, Haylie Panter 5, Peyton Musselman 5, Natalie Kitts 4, Savannah Feil 3, Kayli Jensen 1;

Halftime: Tompkins 34-16; 3-Pointers: (T) DeLeon 4, Coughran, Musselman; Record: Tompkins: 8-4;