SNYDER — Aledo played suffocating defense and rode the scoring of senior Mallory Powell to a 54-31 victory over Canyon in the Class 4A Region I semifinals Friday at Western Texas College.
The Bearcats (30-6), who are in the midst of their deepest playoff run since jumping to the the 4A level, will face El Paso Hanks (25-9) at 2 p.m. today in the regional final.“I couldn’t be more proud of a group of young ladies or just anything I’ve been associated with as a coach to watch them compete the way they do,” Aledo coach Rusty Johnson said. “The loose balls, the diving on the floor, the selling out for teammates, the cheering of the bench by girls who don’t play much; we just have something going right here and I hope it continues.”Aledo built a sizable lead in the second quarter with a 14-0 run, holding Canyon scoreless over the final six minutes of the half. Kaylee Black’s (10 points, four rebounds) lock-down defense on the Eagles’ top scorer, 6-foot-3 center Justis Szczepanski-Beavers’ (eight points, eight rebounds and five blocks) presence in the paint and the rest of the Ladycats’ defense forced Canyon into shooting just 23 percent from the field for the game.“What gets overlooked sometimes is our guards who are able to come in and just shut down other team’s perimeter players,” Johnson said. “We put Kaylee and Megan (Wood) on their best guard knowing we had Justis on the backside and that’s been the key to our tournament in my mind- our hard play on defense.”On offense, sophomore point guard Alyssa Dry put constant pressure on Canyon’s defense by driving into the paint and either scoring or finding teammates for open shots. When Canyon switched to a zone, Powell carved them up by knifing through the open areas en route to a game-high 24 points and 13 rebounds.“They were kind of denying me the 3-pointer so I just started driving in and had that mindset to drive in and just went to work,” Powell said.Jarret Johnson, 817-390-7760Twitter: @JohnsonJarretHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
