The Llano High School girls basketball team has been building what the Lady Jackets accomplished Jan. 3 and 7.
They took a bus ride to face the two-time defending District 5-3A champion Brady Bulldogs and came home with a leave-no-doubt 34-15 victory to begin the district campaign Jan. 3. Then they added a 35-29 victory at Ingram Tom Moore four days later.
“It felt really good,” head coach Jay Parker said. “Going over there, being on the road and not knowing a lot about (Brady). I felt like we could take care of business.”
The Lady Jackets simply applied their feet on the Lady Bulldogs’ throats and didn’t release for 32 minutes.
To illustrate just how dominant Llano was, consider this. The Lady Jackets held Brady to 15 total points for four quarters. They scored 13 in the opening stanza to set the tone immediately. That led to a 22-6 advantage at the half.
“Our defense played well,” Parker said. “We held them to six points in the first half. Could it have been more? Yeah. From the get-go, we took control of the game. The girls played extremely well that first half.”
He noted Brady still has junior guard Lexie Whisenhunt, senior guard Amerie Stidham and senior post Alva Farris.
“ They’re still scary in the sense they have enough weapons,” the coach said. “(Stidham) is an outside shooter and (Whisenhunt) can beat you. If you don’t control those three, they could sneak up on you.”
One area he’d like to see improve is playing at a consistently high level for the entire game.
“I don’t know that we have that killer instinct,” he said. “I wanted us to continue stretching that lead in the second half. That comes with more experience.”
Senior forward Amelia Robinson led Llano with 12 points followed by sophomore forward Hailey Lucas with 8, sophomore guard Addison Priem added 6 and junior guard Sydney Kuykendall, junior post Peyton Parrish, senior guard Ciara Hays and sophomore guard Anna Machuga each scored 2.
Llano led Ingram 8-4 after the first period, 14-8 at the half and 25-23 going into the final stanza.
Priem was the high point with 14 points followed by Robinson with 11, Kuykendall added 6, and Hays finished with 4.
Parker knows the importance of winning back-toback road games and what it means toward accomplishing other team goals.
“Anytime you start district on the road with a win is big,” he said. “I would hope with our success in volleyball and the success they had on the road, hopefully that carries over.”
The wins come on the heels of losses to Mason 43-20 Dec. 30 and to Lampasas 53-15 Dec. 28.
Though the score against Mason may not indicate it, Parker noted the Lady Jackets played much better than they had against the Lady Badgers.
“I was pleased, especially after coming off Lampasas,” Parker said. “We threw it around against Mason. It was 23-14 at the half.”
Priem led with 9 points followed by Lucas and Parrish with 4 each, Kuykendall added 2, and Machuga scored 1.
Robinson didn’t play. Other than Hays, the Lady Jackets who were suited up is an early glimpse of the 2025-26 team.
“Amelia changes things,” the coach said. “Everybody got to play. They stepped it up.”
Llano welcomes Florence Friday, Jan. 10, with the subvarsity playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity at 6:15 p.m. Parker said Llano Independent School District administrators are watching the weather closely and will be thorough in examining reports and the area hours before Florence players and coaches board buses to come here.
“All of us are looking out for the safety of all traveling,” Parker said. “We are not going to jeopardize the safety of kids.”
The Lady Jackets host Comfort Tuesday, Jan. 14, with the subvarsity playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity at 6:15 p.m.
players get
