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Granbury post Lilley VanderZee had a feeling before Friday night's Class 4A area-round playoff game against Fort Worth Western Hills.
She had trouble describing it, but after being nervous since late Thursday night and all day Friday, the 6-foot-3 junior had little trouble showing it on the floor.
VanderZee poured in 30 points, had 15 rebounds and four blocked shots as the Pirates downed the Cougars 54-32 at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center.
"When we got here in the gym and after we had been warming up for a couple of minutes, I got this feeling and it just stuck with me," said VanderZee, whose team improved to 28-8 and will meet Stephenville (19-16) in the regional quarterfinals on Tuesday in Glen Rose.
"It was a feeling that just overcomes you. A feeling of 'this is it... this is our time to play and time to win.'"
Granbury jumped out to a 10-0 lead as VanderZee dominated inside with eight quick points, two coming off assists from Bailey Cole.
Western Hills (27-7) fought back to within 12-6 on two baskets by Crystal Jones, who led the Cougars with 17 points. But a basket by VanderZee and 3-pointer by Lauren Clough at the buzzer gave the Pirates a 17-6 lead after one quarter.
The Cougars pulled within 22-16 when Taylor Whiteside scored off a steal by Jones with 3:15 left in the half, but the Pirates' margin never fell below six. Granbury's defense and rebounding allowed the Pirates to pull away from there.
"We came out a little flat and couldn't execute any offense," Western Hills coach Maurice McWilliams said. "Their defense was great, and every time they shot the ball, they probably had at least two shots at the goal. We barely got one."
Western Hills had no offensive rebounds in the second half and five overall.
VanderZee wasn't the only Pirate working the boards as Maddie Cox, Clough and Morgan Northcutt had 15 combined rebounds.
Western Hills' Whiteside had six points, as did Granbury's Northcutt.
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