The Mason High School girls basketball team lost to Goldthwaite 54-48 in overtime February 21 in the Class 2A Division II Region 4 final to end the 2024-25 season.
'It was a great game,' Mason head coach Alicia Cummings said. 'It was everything It was a really good, hard-fought game.' The contest was a typical Mason-Goldthwaite matchup that went back and forth for 36 minutes.
In the third stanza, Anna Marie Whitworth had a huge three-point play to trim the deficit to 31-26. That started an 8-4 run that included Ainsley Burns making three foul shots and a three-pointer and Whitworth sinking two free throws for a 36-35 advantage headed into the fourth quarter.
Whitworth was fouled while trying to score on an offensive rebound. She made a free throw and followed that by making an old-fashioned three-point play and another basket for a 42-37 lead midway through the period.
But the Lady Eagles answered with a 6-0 run to take a 43-42 advantage with 90 second left in regulation.
Whitworth scored on an offensive rebound to put the Cowgirls up 44-43 then swatted a shot away on the other end with less than a minute left.
With 26 seconds left, the Cowgirls led 45-43, but Goldthwaite capitalized on a turnover and later scored to knot the game at 45-45 and send it to overtime.
Goldthwaite outscored Mason 9-3 in the extra session. Burns and Whitworth made foul shots to trim the deficit to 49-48, but that's as close as the Cowgirls came.
Leading 51-48 with under a minute left, the Lady Eagles went to their stall offense to run out the clock and made free throws to extend the lead.
Whitworth finished with 33 points, 21 rebounds and nine blocks, while Burns dropped in 10 points, Camille Schmidt added a three-pointer and Conley Bownds finished with two.
'Anna Marie played awesome,' the coach said. 'In my opinion, she was the best player on the floor. She played an incredible game. It's exciting to bring her back.'
This game may have come down to two factors.
Goldthwaite made 25 of 30 foul shots, while Mason connected on 18 of 28.
'They hit some really big free throws at the end,' Cummings said.
The other is that the Lady Eagles have played in a regional final before and advanced to the state tournament. That squad has seven seniors. Meanwhile, the Cowgirls have one senior and most haven't played in a regional final until this season.
'There was a lot of inexperience and youth,' Cummings said. 'We had a lot of chances to win that game and instead made costly mistakes at critical times. Goldthwaite hit their free throws, they hit a transition three-pointer to cut the lead to two (midway through the fourth period). We made some little mistakes. Their experience versus a little bit of a lack of experience on our side in a big game (played a role).'
But she emphasized that doesn't take anything away from the Cowgirls, who gave all they had and then some in an effort to win.
'We played so hard, and I'm so proud of them,' the coach said. 'We gained good experience in these situations that'll come into play for us. We gained a lot of good experience this season that will be valuable moving forward. We were so close to having it go the other way. If we're in the same situations next season, I think we'll handle them much better.'
After the game ended, Cummings briefly spoke with Goldthwaite head coach Angie Hermesmeyer, who was very complimentary of the Cowgirls. Hermesmeyer commended the Cowgirls for how hard they played, pointing out no one can fault their efforts.
'I'm so very proud of them,' Cummings said. 'We exceeded a lot of expectations. I'll remember them for their closeness, their ability to stick together – I thought that was a huge factor in the run we made. They proved a lot of people wrong. The future is bright for us. The future is so bright. This group was seconds away from a state tournament berth. We came a long ways.'
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