Fort Worth Southwest Christian regroups in TAPPS 5A championship for first state title
When Fort Worth Southwest Christian head girls basketball coach Larry Menendez Jr. took over the job last year, he saw potential for the Lady Eagles’ program.
Despite no coaching background at the high school level and 26 years in the military, Southwest Christian breezed through the regular season as the No. 1 ranked team in the state for TAPPS Class 5A.
Houston Second Baptist had other ideas on Friday, sinking four 3-pointers in the first quarter, but Southwest Christian regrouped and went on to make school history.
Erasing an early 10-point deficit, Southwest Christian (26-7) turned up the heat on Second Baptist to win the TAPPS 5A state championship, 73-63, on Friday at West High School.
“First thing is I want to thank God. He led us to this championship. It was destined before I came here and it was bound for this school,” Menendez said. “I’m happy to be apart of what was going to happen anyway. We knew what we were stacked against. We just had to press the ball and make quick adjustments. The girls work well under pressure.”
It’s the program’s first championship. They lost the final in 1999, the program’s only other title game appearance.
“When we started the season, it was a challenge. We only had eight, but they toughed it out mentally and physically. I’m super proud of them and win or loss, I was happy with the outcome of the season,” Menendez said. “We have a great team and we’ll have a great team next year, and we’ll keep the tradition going.”
Junior Dayton Flowers hit a 3-pointer to give Southwest Christian a 3-2 lead, but Second Baptist went on a 16-5 run to grab a 10-point margin with 3:40 left in the opener following a the team’s fourth 3-pointer, on a shot from senior Emily Blackmon.
Southwest Christian trimmed the margin to 18-14 entering the second quarter when its only senior, Jillian Norman and Flowers made baskets assisted by junior Ariele Rosborough.
Second Baptist senior post Kaitlyn Kollmorgen, who is headed to Mary Hardin-Baylor, had a huge performance in her final high school game with game-highs of 27 points and 16 rebounds. Her basket early in the second quarter gave Second Baptist a 20-14 lead.
Flowers hit her second three of the day to cut the deficit to three and Southwest Christian closed out the first half with a 14-4 run. It led 34-30 at intermission when Norman, who scored 18, hit a layup and was fouled.
Second Baptist (22-12) led 26-24 midway through the second quarter, but that would be its last lead when Rosborough drained a 3-pointer at the 3:30 mark.
“Never doubted us in the first quarter. These girls have a lot of heart and that’s one thing I love about playing with them,” Ariele said. “We had to show them how fierce we can be.”
Flowers, who scored 14 points, opened the third with a three from the left wing and after Rosborough’s put-back layup, Southwest Christian led 39-30 with 6:52 to go in the period.
Rosborough led Southwest Christian with 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Southwest Christian increased its lead to 50-34 when Rosborough hit Norman for a corner three and again for a short jumper that made it 52-36.
Flowers, who connected on four threes, gave Southwest Christian its largest lead of the day at 58-36 at the end of the third quarter.
Second Baptist, which was making its fourth appearance in the state title game and first since 2014, did all it could to mount a comeback.
Second Baptist pulled within 66-56 when it got a 3-pointer from sophomore Caitlin Torn, a layup from Kollmorgen and a 3-point play by freshman Ella Ryan. They cut the deficit to single digits 69-60 on a Ryan layup, but Southwest Christian’s lead was never in jeopardy.
Junior Arieona Rosborough posted 18 points, seven assists, four blocks and three steals for Southwest Christian. Norman added six rebounds.
“We just had to stick together,” Arieona said. “We couldn’t glare off into our own world. We had to be a team and a unit.”
“Jill hates to lose and having that senior leadership is very important,” Ariele added. “We had to put it all on the court for her and the team.”
After giving up four threes in the first quarter, Southwest Christian held Second Baptist to 2 of 7 shooting from distance in the final three frames, and 41.8% shooting overall for the game.
Second Baptist senior Victoria Ryan added 15 points, five boards and seven assists. Blackmon chipped in eight points.
The Rosborough sisters, Norman and Flowers were named to the TAPPS 5A state all-tournament team for Southwest Christian.
“It’s amazing to be apart of a team like this,” Norman said. “We created a sisterhood in a short amount of time. I’m honored that they gave me a state title my senior year. It’s a feeling like no other.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 5:24 PM.
