Star guard guides Mansfield Timberview into Mansfield Rotary final

By Josh Bowe and Shawn Smajstrla

Special to the Star-Telegram

MANSFIELD -- In the fourth quarter of Mansfield Timberview's close battle with Flower Mound Marcus, Lili Thompson took over.

The senior guard and Stanford signee pushed the Wolves to an explosive final stanza and into the Mansfield Rotary Tournament finals with a 59-48 semifinal win over Marcus on Friday night at Summit High School.

Timberview plays Cedar Hill tonight at 7 in the championship at Summit.

"She's such a heady player," Timberview coach Kit Martin said. "She's active defensively, she's intelligent on both ends of the floor and she's coachable. She's just a steady force for us."

With Timberview leading 33-30 after the third quarter, Thompson helped engineer a 26-point fourth quarter. Thompson dished back-to-back assists and then scored a layup to push the Lady Wolves' lead to 45-34 with under six minutes left.

Marcus tried to create a comeback and got the Timberview lead down to single digits but ran out of time as Timberview ran down the clock.

Thompson finished with a game-high 20 points. Junior forward Morgan Easley led Marcus with 14 points.

Timberview defeated Amarillo 46-28 in the quarterfinals earlier Friday behind Dayo Olabode's 15 points.

Cedar Hill 62, Cibolo Steele 42: The Longhorns advanced to the final behind 22 points from freshman forward Joyner Holmes.

Marcus 45, Arlington Bowie 35: The Marauders shut down the Volunteers' offense after Bowie trailed 19-18 at halftime.

Cedar Hill 53, Mansfield Summit 38: The Longhorns kept Summit at arm's length most of the game before pulling away in the fourth quarter.

North Crowley 33, Mansfield Lake Ridge 24: In a consolation bracket game, Lake Ridge scored the first seven points, but North Crowley clamped down defensively and outscored the Eagles 21-6 for the remainder of the first half.

Stephenville 50, Grapevine 45: Cassidy Cline hit a basket to put the Honeybees up by two then made a steal and a 3-pointer.

Huntsville 49, Arlington Lamar 43: Lamar's comeback bid was spoiled by Huntsville's late free-throw shooting.

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