Day 3: Texas high school girls basketball state championships. Which schools won titles?
Day three of the Texas high school girls basketball UIL state championships is underway.
Here is what you need to know about Denton Ryan, Summer Creek, Fort Worth Boswell’s and Lubbock Monterey’s state championship wins on Saturday, March 1 at the Alamodome.
Unranked Denton Ryan topples No. 1 Wagner to win first title
Denton Ryan entered the Class 5A Division I playoffs unranked by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches.
On Feb. 21, the Raiders stunned No. 3 Amarillo Tascosa with a 38-28 statement victory. Ryan took that momentum all the way to the state championship but faced another challenge in Texas’s top-ranked 5A team: San Antonio Wagner.
The No. 1 ranking didn’t phase the Raiders, and they once again proved their dominance by securing a 58-47 victory. Although Ryan coach Monesha Allen knew it was a possibility from the beginning of the season, winning the title was still “surreal.”
“You dream of this moment, and you have so many teams that come through and so many talented players, and you finally find a special group that can carry it out,” Allen said.
Allen said the rankings never bothered the team as they continued improving throughout the season. At the end of the season, the Raiders had gold medals on their necks.
“It’s not about the rankings, because it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Allen said.
In the first quarter, both squads went back and forth, but the Raiders gained a slight advantage in the second frame, taking a 26-21 lead into the half.
Ryan maintained its lead in the third quarter, and in the fourth, the Raiders broke away.
Ryan’s rebounding and offensive efficiency were strong points; the Raiders out-rebounded Wagner 39-23 and shot 45% from the field to Wagner’s 29%, which made up for Wagner shooting 25 more free throws.
“We found ourselves to be an aggressive team, and it always seems like the foul count was lopsided,” Allen said. “And truth be told, it doesn’t matter, as long as our defense will prevail. And we told them, defense wins games, but rebounds win championships.”
In an MVP performance, junior Kaylin Jackson scored 24 points on 9-11 shooting and also grabbed eight rebounds. Teammate Zaviyana Madison, also a junior, also had a key performance with 15 points on 7-10 shooting, five rebounds and four assists.
Summer Creek surges from behind to defeat Cedar Hill
In the Class 6A Division I state championship, Cedar Hill held a 12-point lead to start the fourth quarter and, at one point, led by as much as 18 points.
The Summer Creek Bulldogs surged from behind, outscoring Cedar Hill 22-7 in the final frame to stun the Longhorns and win the title. Cedar Hill had an opportunity to force overtime with a three-pointer in the game’s final seconds but couldn’t convert.
The Bulldogs, after four state appearances since 2019, won their first title in program history. Cedar Hill was also looking for its first state title.
Summer Creek took 29 free throws, converting on 18, while Cedar Hill took 15 of them. A big reason for that was junior Kennedy Simpson, who scored a team-high 21 points on 3 of 10 shooting en route to MVP honors; she made 14 of 20 free throw attempts.
Senior Brooklyn King led the way for Cedar Hill with 18 points on 6 of 13 shooting. Sophomore Dawn Jones also had a big performance, with 12 points on an efficient 4 of 6 from the field.
Fort Worth Boswell bests Fort Bend Hightower to win state championship
Fort Worth Boswell defeated Fort Bend Hightower 51-42 to win the Class 6A Division II state championship. It’s the program’s first state title.
Click here for in-depth coverage of the game.
With No. 1 national recruit, Lubbock Monterey takes down Liberty Hill
With a generational talent on its roster, No. 5 Lubbock Monterey brought a national spotlight to the Class 5A Division II state championship against No. 12 Liberty Hill.
That generational talent is Aaliyah Chavez, ESPN’s No. 1 ranked senior girls basketball player nationwide. She is one of two recruits in the top 100 to be uncommitted, but on March 25 that will change; Chavez is considering Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
“Clearly, (Chavez) has elevated our team to an entirely different level,” Monterey coach Jill Schneider said. “She’s an elite player, and our team has embraced that. She is a great teammate. Her teammates love her. She loves her teammates. And I think that it was on display today.”
By Chavez’s standards, she had an off-game but did more than enough to lead Monterey to a dominant 63-35 championship win by scoring 19 points on 8-26 shooting en route to MVP honors. In their first state appearance since 1981, the Plainsmen won their second state title in program history.
“(Being named MVP) was kind of crazy, because I obviously didn’t have the best game today,” Chavez said. “But my team won at the end of the day, and that’s all that mattered to me, was to get that state championship. I could care less to get MVP. It doesn’t matter to me.”
As she checked out, Chavez received a standing ovation and had “happy tears.”
Monterey gained a slight advantage in the first quarter and broke away in the second with the help of some elite team defense. In that frame, Liberty Hill was held to just one field goal. Monterey maintained its lead, holding Liberty Hill to 20% from the field in the game.
“We’ve heard a lot of ‘one player can’t win a championship,’” Schneider said. “ And I think you saw a team today led by (Aaliyah Chavez).”
This story was originally published March 1, 2025 at 12:25 PM.
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