The Mason High School girls basketball team added another gold ball to its trophy case thanks to beating Bremond 54-53 February 17 at Burnet High School in the regional semifinals of the Class 2A Division II playoffs.
With under 16 seconds left and the score tied at 53-53, the Cowgirls passed to allstate junior post Anna Marie Whitworth, who caught the ball at midcourt to break the Lady Tigers' press. Whitworth raced to the other end and attempted a lay-up that was missed. But freshman guard Camille Schmidt got the rebound and was fouled with an eighth of a second left.
She stepped to the line and made the first one. Bremond immediately called a timeout.
Head coach Alicia Cummings smiled when asked if there was anyone else on her roster who wanted to be in that moment more.
'That's a hard question because yes I do,' she said. 'That's also what we try to tell our kids. And so that kid, to come off the bench and give us a spark and just talk about making the most of that opportunity and be fearless in that moment and wanna be in. But I don't think she's the only one who wants to be there, but she did wanna be in that moment, and this says a lot.'
After the second free throw was missed, Bremond called back-to-back timeouts with fifth of second left. The first was to set up a play and the second was to adjust the play after seeing the Cowgirls' defense.
The play didn't work. That set off a Cowgirls celebration.
'It wasn't pretty, but they fight and I would take that,' the coach said. 'I'm very, very proud of them. They played their hearts out.'
For much of the game, Bremond had its way. The Lady Tigers controlled the pace, were quicker to the ball, got multiple offensive rebounds per possession, and used their 2-3 zone to neutralize all-state junior post Anna Marie Whitworth.
So why were the Cowgirls victorious?
'Resilience,' Cummings said. ' We kept fighting. Sometimes it doesn't have to be pretty – just have to find a way. Our kids found a way. It probably wasn't our best overall game. Maybe we were a little bit tight. But at the end of the day, finding a way and being resilient – that's the key to winning because it's not always going to be pretty and it's not always going to be easy.'
The Cowgirls trailed 2317 at the half.
When they returned to the court, Cummings kept emphasizing pushing the pace and getting out on fast breaks, particularly after Bremond missed shots. Both teams packed the lane in an effort to get rebounds.
The Lady Tigers didn't stretch their zone too far, daring the Cowgirls to shoot the three-pointer. And it worked in the third quarter. But not so much in the final stanza when junior guard Ainsley Burns buried one 45 seconds in.
Bremond went to its fullcourt press, choosing to use its speed and quick hands in an attempt to get the ball. But once the Cowgirls got the ball to the middle of the court, they quickly went to the other end. The result was fouling Whitworth, who calmly made both free throws for a 40-38 advantage with 6 minutes and 34 seconds left in the contest.
But the Lady Tigers scored the next four points only to have Whitworth answer with a cutting layup in the Cowgirls' half-court offense on a pass from junior guard Maya Aguero to tie the game at 42-42.
Once Bremond took a 4842 advantage, Mason called a timeout with 4:19 left.
Schmidt hit a long jumper, Aguero buried a three-pointer, scored on a steal, and nailed another three-pointer for a 5348 lead with 1:55 remaining.
The Lady Tigers scored four consecutive free throws to trim the deficit to 53-52 with 1:26 left.
Mason went to its stall offense in the final minute, but Bremond got a steal and was fouled. The shooter missed both attempts, but the Lady Tigers got another steal and were fouled. The shooter made the second free throw to tie the contest at 53-53 to set up the final heroics.
Cummings noted hitting the long three-pointers helps in so many ways, adding the Cowgirls are 'good shooters' from that distance.
'Once again it's that resilience,' she said. 'It's 'hey, I'm going to play to win.' It's a mentality really, so I was really, really proud of them.'
This game comes on the heels of a 65-16 blowout of Agua Dulce February 14.
The Cowgirls led 33-3 at the half.
'I thought we took care of business,' Cummings said. 'We thought our defensive pressure would get to them, we thought we'd move the ball and get good shots and beat them with our posts. I thought our kids played with a sense of urgency for four quarters. We did a good job of staying focused and staying on them.' The lopsided score allowed the Cowgirls to mix up lineups and try different things. Cummings said she wanted to see better defensive movement among the five defenders 'I wanted to see them move together as one unit,' she said. 'We take a lot of pride on defense. That is something we tried to focus on.'
She also was pleased with how well the Cowgirls crashed the boards on both ends.
'I thought we rebounded well, which was also a focus for us,' she said. 'We blocked out and rebounded.'
And finally Cummings wanted to see better ball protection as the Cowgirls pushed the ball and settled into their offense.
'We tried not to let our guard down but continue to get better in those situations,' she said.
Whitworth led with 18 points followed by Aguero with 13, junior post Hannah Holbrook added 11, and Burns finished with seven.
'Hannah came in and gave us a spark,' Cummings said. 'She played well. We had balanced scoring.'
The Cowgirls await the winner of Goldthwaite and Weimar. The results of that game as well as details of the regional championship were not available by press time.
Bremond didn't make it easy for Mason post Anna Marie Whitworth thanks to packing in the lane and collapsing on her every time she got the ball.
