Keller, Timber Creek in playoff mode

By Randy Sachs

Special to The Keller Citizen

The girls basketball playoffs are under way, and Monday was the start for two Keller ISD teams’ journey.

The results were unavailable at the press deadline, but the excitement and expectations were building nonetheless, last week as Keller and Timber Creek were deep into preparations.

Keller, the third-place team in District 4-5A and Timber Creek, the fourth-place seed, were taking on District 3-5A teams, Arlington Martin and Arlington Bowie, respectively.

By record and seeding, Timber Creek had the tougher draw, but it’s the playoffs, and upsets will happen.

For the Lady Falcons and head coach Tina Demichele, they knew what they were getting ready for.

The Lady Falcons had played Bowie earlier in the season during the Colleyville tournament in November and dropped that contest 47-35.

“Being the underdogs, we’ve nothing to lose,” Demichele said.

The road to the playoffs is not anything new for Timber Creek, but it is the first year for the school in 5A.

“We lost our point guard and leading scorer from last year and now we’re in 5A,” Demichele said. “We’ve overcome large losses.”

But the Lady Falcons have had others such as Emily Spector and Hilary Kelley step up.

“They can shoot lights out,” Demichele noted, but acknowledged that you never knew who would show up for a particular game.

Getting to the playoffs had all the drama a coach and team could ask for, too.

The Lady Falcons had to get past Fossil Ridge in the final regular season game to make the cut.

With seven seniors, though, Demichele said she felt confident.

“It was nerve-racking, and although we were tied at halftime, I knew they wouldn’t let each other down,” she said.

“The seniors have been to the playoffs for two years and they knew they’d do it,” Demichele said of her seasoned crew.

At Keller, Doug Sporrer is also in the midst of building a winning program, not just winning seasons.

“Any team starts with the goal of making the playoffs,” Sporrer said. “We’re happy to be here in the playoffs, but we now expect to be here.”

The Lady Indians are now in their third straight year of the playoff season, and although the expectation is to be there, they don’t take it for granted.

“We lost six seniors last year and a lot of others didn’t expect much from us,” Sporrer said.

Now, however, seniors Rani Parkinson and Jen Lutz have picked up the slack and are helping make the expectations a reality for Keller.

The plan for Keller is simplicity, Sporrer said.

“We’ll keep the practices as simple as possible,” he said. “We’ll have a lot of shooting and not try to make them have to think through too much.”

For both teams, long travel plans are hopefully in the works this week, though.

With wins, each team would be traveling west to potential “mid-points” of Midland or Abilene.

Timber Creek could be looking to take on an El Paso school such as Eastwood, while Keller could be facing Lubbock Coronado.

Regardless, both coaches wouldn’t mind a little road trip to help further build on their successful seasons.

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