The Johnson City girls basketball team lost to Flatonia, 68-38, ending its playoff run and the 2024-25 season.
The loss came in a rare third-round playoff appearance for Johnson City. It is the second straight year, however, that the Lady Eagles have reached the third playoff round. For head coach Chris Schlicke, it is the now-departing seniors to thank for the team’s newly- found sustained success.
“This program is based on what these seniors have bought into and what these seniors have done,” Schlicke said. “I am so stinking proud of them and their effort.”
The six Johnson City seniors – Stevie Rodgers, Jackie Earley, Ashley Barrera, Maddy Hacker, Riley Birck and JayCee Debusk – have built the team from the six-player varsity roster that finished 3-6 in their freshman year to the newlook district contender that it is now. Most of the seniors played on varsity together starting in their sophomore years, building the important chemistry of a playoff- contending team.
“I think we just have a lot of talent this year,” Birck said. “We’re just, like, have come together a lot as a team this year, and it’s helped us be way better than in the past.”
Flatonia started the game strong, but Johnson City had just as strong of an answer, taking a brief lead in the first quarter. However, Flatonia quickly took back control of the game and ended the first quarter up 21-14. Flatonia closed the door on Johnson City in the second quarter and held the Lady Eagles to just five points in the quarter. By adding on another 22 points, Flatonia went into the locker room at halftime with a 43-19 lead.
Johnson City’s offense broke out of its second-quarter slump after halftime, but Flatonia continued to roll as it outscored Johnson City 15-13 to take a 58-32 lead into the fourth quarter. Flatonia’s defense shut down Johnson City’s offense once again in the fourth quarter, holding the Lady Eagles to six points while scoring another 10 points of insurance to take the game 68-38, ending Johnson City’s season despite the stronger second half.
“I think we could have done better, a little better on the first half,” Barrera said. “We did pretty good in the second half. We shot the ball well and I think we could have beat this team, but I mean, it wasn’t our day.”
A win for Johnson City would have set up the San Saba-Johnson City playoff matchup Feb. 21, a game that was anticipated for months by coach Schlicke. Flatonia lost to San Saba in that game, by a score of 6546.
By making it to the third round and matching last year’s performance, Johnson City once again played a season with more success than it had experienced in recent years. As the team continues to build towards consistent playoff contention, the milestones along the way are not ignored by coach Schlicke.
“To be a regional semifinalist is no slouch,” Schlicke said. “I think it’s just one more step on the building block of where we want this program to be.”
The non-seniors on the team, such as junior Brooke Hobbs and sophomores Chloe Clark and Kylie Allen, will go into the offseason following two years of competitive play for the Lady Eagles. With the work that they and the departing seniors have done for the program over the past few years, the team will hope to come back in 2025-2026 better equipped to make another playoff run.
“This team is great,” Barrera said. “We just communicate better. We’re inseparable… this team is just great. I love this team.”
