No. 1 Duncanville streaks to lopsided win over No. 15 Cypress Falls

AUSTIN, Texas – The match-up of two of the best girls basketball teams in Texas, and the nation, was a hard-fought, back-and-forth battle.

For about five minutes.

Then came a 28-2 run to end the first half by Duncanville (Texas), which is No. 14 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 Rankings and No. 1 in the Freeman Rankings. For the 5,398 fans at the Frank Erwin Center, it was awe-inspiring.

But for Cypress Falls (Houston), it was backbreaking. The No. 15 team in the Freeman Rankings never recovered and Duncanville raced to a 64-40 victory and a spot in Saturday's Class 5A state championship.

"We knew we had to take them out with defense," Duncanville coach Cathy Self-Morgan said. "All year it's been about defense."

For Duncanville (39-1), a 21-time state qualifier that is trying to win its first state title since 2003, everything starts with defense. And against Cy Falls (37-3), it was Duncanville's defense that ended the suspense early.

Cy Falls led 9-7 after a three-point play by Loryn Goodwin with 3:36 left in the first quarter. Then came the onslaught by Duncanville, starting with a 3-pointer by Morgan Bolton and a pair of layups by Ariel Atkins that gave Duncanville a 14-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

It was still a game. But not for long.

After Cy Falls scored the first basket of the second quarter, Duncanville scored the final 21 points of the half. The Pantherettes scored on 3-pointers by Atkins and Empress Davenport fastbreak layups by Bolton and Tasia Foman, a rebound putback by Alisha Spearman and two baskets in the paint by Antiona Robinson off crafty passes by Davenport.

"If we play defense," Davenport said, "then the offense just falls into place."

Everything fell into place for Duncanville, which has won 27 straight games. Its defense forced 23 turnovers and scored 27 points off the turnovers. The Pantherettes contested every pass, blocked every path to the basket and had a hand in the face of Cy Falls' shooters almost all the time.

Bolton and Atkins each had 15 for Duncanville and Foman added 12. Davenport, a Texas signee, had eight points and six assists and was the primary defender on Cy Falls star guard Loryn Goodwin. Goodwin, a North Texas signee, finished with 19 points but also had six turnovers.

Cy Falls only hit 12 of 39 shots from the field (30.8 percent).

"When our shots weren't falling, we tried to attack the rim more," Cy Falls coach Jim Stephens said. "But they did a good job of getting in front of us."

Duncanville did a good job on about everything as it advanced to the state title game for the first time since 2004. The Pantherettes got blown out by Spring Westfield in the '04 final, but it could be the other way around Saturday, when Duncanville takes on either Spring Dekaney or San Antonio Reagan in Saturday's championship.

"We all feel that we want it and nobody can take it away from us," Bolton said. "We know our destiny."

Dekaney (Houston) 50,Reagan (San Antonio) 35

Spring Dekaney, making its first appearance at the state tournament, took a 12-point lead in the first quarter and was never threatened in the second 5A semifinal Friday at the Erwin Center. Dekaney (40-1) will play Duncanville (39-1) at 8:30 p.m. Saturday for the 5A title.

Reagan (34-5) scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to cut Dekaney’s lead to 39-31, but it couldn’t get any closer. Senior guard Alexis Durley scored 13 points for Dekaney and forward Shunta Nevitt had nine points and seven rebounds. Sabrina Berry had 11 points and nine rebounds for Reagan, which made only 13 of 56 from the field (23.2 percent).

Reagan had 18 turnovers to just 12 for Dekaney.