TAPPS state tournament recap: Bethesda girls, Covenant boys advance to championship game

Girls

Fort Worth Bethesda Christian 47, Weatherford Christian 35

The Bethesda Christian girls basketball team has done something that no other girls hoops team before it has been able to do since the school opened in 1980.

Make it to the TAPPS state tournament.

And not only did this team make it to the dance, the girls will be playing for a state title after defeating rival Weatherford Christian in a TAPPS Class 2A state semifinal on Thursday at Waco University High School.

Bethesda (23-8) had only eight players available to play, but the Ambassadors jumped on Weatherford Christian (19-9) from the start. Hailey Clagg scored the first five points for Bethesda on her way to a game-high 20 points and the senior completed a double-double with 11 rebounds.

Clagg also had seven steals and five assists.

“She is a phenomenal basketball player,” said Bethesda coach Will Powers. “She’s our team captain. I don’t even need to be out on the court because she can run the show on her own. She’s a great leader and everybody follows her.”

This was the fourth time for the teams to play this season after competing in the same district.

The previous three were all within 10 points with Bethesda winning the first and the Lions taking the second two, but Weatherford Christian never led in the semifinal.

Bethesda led 15-7 after one quarter, but Weatherford Christian was able to cut the lead to four, 17-13, after a pair of free throws by Isabel McKamey and a basket by Lanie Morrison with 3:54 left before halftime.

The Ambassadors steadily built the lead after that point behind Clagg and forwards Keely Mitchell (10 points) and Cienna Turner (9). Turner’s basket with 4:02 left in the game gave Bethesda its biggest lead at 39-23.

The Lions would get as close as 10 the rest of the way, but Clagg went 4 of 4 from the foul line in the final 37 seconds to seal the win.

Freshmen twins Kaitlyn and Abigail Shiller led the Lions with 11 and nine points, respectively.

Bethesda will play top-ranked Shiner St. Paul (21-8), which defeated third-ranked Edinburg Harvest 56-42, for the 2A championship at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at West High School.

Boys

Fort Worth Covenant Classical 50, Lubbock Kingdom Prep 37

Second-ranked Kingdom Prep had an answer for just about everything in its TAPPS boys Class 2A state semifinal against Covenant Classical.

An answer for everything except senior guard Braden Tucker.

Tucker poured in 21 points, 19 in the second half, as Covenant (21-11) moves on to the state title game and will meet the winner between No. 3 Galveston O’Connell (25-6) and top-ranked Houston Grace Christian (27-7) at 8:30 p.m. on Friday at West High School.

After a three-pointer by Covenant’s Whit Jewett tied the game at five with 3:56 left in the first quarter, neither team led by more than three until right before halftime. There were six ties and three lead changes during that span, but the Warriors were about to get blitzed.

Covenant went on a 17-2 run starting late in the first period. The Cavaliers had seven steals during the spree that gave them their biggest lead at 37-22 with 2:56 left in the third quarter.

The Cavaliers had a whopping 21 steals on the night.

Kingdom Prep (22-9) cut the lead to six points twice midway through the fourth quarter, but Tucker and Luke Liebelt (9 points) pushed the lead back to 10. The Warriors didn’t score in the final 2:18 of the game.

Tucker added four assists, three rebounds and had six steals. Jewett contributed seven points, seven rebounds and four steals. Thomas Nicholson had a nice night for Kingdom Prep with 16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

Luke Sell pulled down 15 rebounds for the Warriors, who out rebounded Covenant 36-24.

This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 6:44 PM.