Colleyville Heritage girls hoops hoping to reverse playoff fortunes
Recent bi-district playoff matchups have not been kind to Colleyville Heritage’s girls basketball program. The Lady Panthers have faced some daunting assignments.
As Colleyville Heritage (22-10, 8-4 in 7-6A) faced Cedar Hill on Monday in Mansfield in a rematch from the 2015 bi-district playoff meeting, head coach Dianna Sager hoped experience would serve as the best teacher.
In the 61-36 bi-district playoff loss at Nolan Catholic in 2015, Colleyville Heritage had six new faces going to that game. Now, everyone knows and appreciates the enormity of playing in the win-or-go-home scenario.
“I think we have a lot of confidence, especially with the way we’re playing coming into this game,” head coach Dianna Sager said. “We’re a lot smarter. I feel good about where we’re at. I’m sure a lot of people will look at this like a David vs. Goliath situation.”
Obviously, the key for Colleyville Heritage was to try and limit how much damage Texas-bound Cedar Hill post Joyner Holmes could inflict. Holmes is a very athletic player and scored 22 points in last year’s meeting. Colleyville Heritage also committed 26 turnovers and let a 13-9 lead after the first quarter get away from it.
If Colleyville Heritage was to pull the upset – the Lady Panthers are the No. 3 seed from the district and Cedar Hill is the No. 2 seed from 8-6A – it would be because this team has a few more offensive choices.
McKinley Charles has turned into a solid spot-up 3-point shooter. She had three from long distance in the 54-38 victory over Carroll in the Feb. 9 regular season finale. If teams gang up on sophomore post Bryn Gerlich, that could also free up Angel Guyton. Guyton had one of her stronger performances of the year with 12 points against Carroll.
Expect Cedar Hill to deploy pressure on the ball. That could change the game from full court to three-quarter court. Sager said her team saw enough of both defensive styles in the Katy and Duncanville tournaments so that she believed her team could handle it.
However, it still comes down to making this a half-court game and forcing Cedar Hill to play that way on both ends of the floor. The winner of this game advances to the area round to meet the winner of Keller vs. Allen.
Grapevine update
Tuesday carried a little sentimental value for Grapevine girls coach Lindy Lombard. Her program faced Saginaw Chisholm Trail, the school where she started her head coaching career.
In order to get a couple of key players back in time for the Class 5A Region I bi-district playoff game, Lombard conceded the home court to Chisholm Trail. It’s a gamble that Lombard hoped would pay off. Grapevine (16-11, 12-0 in 6-5A) won the district championship and earned the top seed.
“With our team, I talked to our captains about doing this,” Lombard said. “They didn’t mind. This team is not fazed by road games. We were really trying to do a good job of building the playoff experience because their boys team played right after us.”
Lombard spent one year at Chisholm Trail (2013-2014) and guided that program to the postseason before moving on to Grapevine.
For Grapevine to make a deep playoff run, Lombard said it’s going to have to be balanced and stay out of foul trouble. An early playoff exit would be the result of not utilizing the post and key players like Abby Sandy running into foul trouble.
The winner of this game advances to the area round where it will face the winner of Burleson Centennial-Fort Worth Trimble Tech.
This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 3:58 PM with the headline "Colleyville Heritage girls hoops hoping to reverse playoff fortunes."