Frisco Liberty denied back-to-back titles as Cedar Park beats Redhawks for first championship
Cedar Park arrived to the Alamodome as the No. 1 ranked Class 5A team in the state.
And the Timberwolves are headed home as the No. 1 team.
Cedar Park held off defending champ Frisco Liberty, 46-39, to win the 5A state championship Wednesday night at the Alamodome, the program’s first title in its first state appearance.
The Timberwolves finish the year 27-1 and get a title for head coach Donny Ott, who got to Cedar Park in 2016-17 after holding down the fort at North Crowley for some time.
Ashley Anderson made 1 of 2 at the line to pull Liberty within 28-24 early in the fourth, but Cedar Park responded with four straight by Alisa Knight and Shelby Hayes to increase the lead to 32-24 with 6:43 to play.
Anderson’s three got Liberty within 32-29 with five minutes left.
Gisella Maul’s layup extended the lead for Cedar Park to 34-29 on the ensuing possession.
Maul was voted MVP with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and went 7 of 9 from the line.
Liberty (22-9) got back within three on a Journee Chambers’ drive to the rim midway through the fourth. Cedar Park’s attempt rimmed out and Jazzy Owens-Barnett took the ball the length of the court for another Liberty basket to make it 34-33 with 3:34 remaining, forcing a Cedar Park timeout.
Lily Ziemkiewicz’s drive to the basket was answered by Maul’s three-point play and Cedar Park increased its margin to 41-35 with 90 seconds left on a layup by Hayes, who had 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting and eight rebounds.
Both teams struggled to score in the first half, but the Timberwolves did hold a 19-9 lead at the break.
The Redhawks found some offense with 14 points in the third quarter.
Cedar Park had its largest lead of the night at 21-9 after a Knight layup on the first possession of the third when it was followed by four straight points by Liberty.
Ziemkiewicz’s three-pointer trimmed the lead to 21-16 with 5:12 left.
Liberty got as close as five points three different times before the period came to an end with Cedar Park leading 28-23. Owens-Barnett knocked down two baskets for Liberty, but the Timberwolves got a three from Sarai Estupinan and a Maul layup inside the paint.
Both teams made 15 shots. Cedar Park went 14 of 16 at the line while Liberty was 5 of 8.
Cedar Park out-rebounded Liberty 27-16.
Chambers and Owens-Barnett led Liberty with 10 points apiece. Maya Jain chipped in eight.
