WACO, TX -- "It never gets old," Head Coach
Andy Zihlman said after he won his 28th state championship on Friday afternoon when Bishop Lynch defeated Ursuline Academy 56-40 for its program's 31st state championship.
The Friars' mantra all weekend was "defense" and the ladies locked in. In the semi-finals against Antonian, their full-court press led to a steal that turned into the game-winning shot by
Mikah Ford. In the finals, their suffocating defense led to Ursuline scoring 15 points less than their season average and the third lowest amount of points scored all season.
Ellery Sample and
Iyana Axson proved to be too much for the Bears as the ladies combined to score 20 points, grab 11 rebounds, and dish out three assists while having six steals and two blocks.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a very emotional semi-final game that ended just 18 hours earlier, the Friars came out with energy and confidence that showed from the opening tip. Bishop Lynch played as if they had been there, which many players had. Experience can be a huge part of a game, and in this case, it was an advantage for the black-and-white. The tone was set early when
Mikah Ford opened up the scoring with an old-fashioned three-point play to give BL a 3-0 lead that they never gave up.
Fre Vowels found her shooting touch as the sophomore hit two of her four made three-pointers in the first quarter to help the Friars build the 13-2 lead after eight.
After holding the defending champs to just two points on 1-11 shooting in the first quarter, the Bears seemed to find a little bit of groove in the second. That meant the Friars' offense would need to keep pace to keep their double-digit lead. That was when
Ellery Sample took over the Friars' offense, scoring six of her 12 points in the quarter. The cherry on top of the first half was
Adriana Medina's three-pointer to give the Friars a 29-17 lead.
The defense was once again the theme for the third quarter as the Friars built their advantage to 16 points at the end of three. The Friars held Ursuline to just 4-10 shooting, including 1-7 from deep. They also forced the Bears to commit four turnovers and didn't let the district champions get into a rhythm.
In the final frame, Ford closed it out by scoring six of her game-high 15 points. With the double-digit lead, the Friars were able to sub out their starters and start celebrating with a minute left in the contest. Once the clock hit triple zeros, the team rushed onto the court as state champions. The 56-40 victory capped off an amazing playoff run in which they outscored their opponents 217-123.
HOW THEY GOT THERE
Bishop Lynch found a way into the TAPPS 6A state championship game after an incredible four-point comeback with under 40 seconds left in the semi-finals. Antonian College Prep went up by four points after a huge three-pointer to give the Apaches a 43-39 lead. On the next possession,
Ellery Sample grabbed an offensive rebound off a miss and kicked it out to
Aliyah Goins who made the biggest shot of her career, a three-pointer from the top of the key to make it a one-point game.
After empty possessions from both teams, the Apaches had an inbound pass under their basketball with under 15 seconds to go. The well-known Bishop Lynch full-court press was on and on a pass to midcourt,
Iyana Axson stole the ball. She then passed it to
Fre Vowels at the right wing, who found
Mikah Ford on the baseline, who had a running jumper with great touch that went in to give the Friars a 44-43 lead with 2.2 seconds left. After a timeout,
Ellery Sample intercepted the full-court pass from Antonian and the rest is history.
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