All is calm and quiet in Texas basketball

Action on Texas high school basketball courts was limited this past week in anticipation of the Christmas holiday. The next week will be full-tilt as a slew of tournaments around the state take place in advance of full district action for all the teams. With that in mind, now is probably the best time to have a look behind at the magical year of 2010, but not first without a glance at some of the key games from the past week.

Houston Westbury Christian wins HISD Tournament
Most high school basketball tournaments finish on a Saturday, but the Houston Independent School District Tournament actually played its championship contest last Monday. Congratulations are in order for Westbury Christian (Houston) and coach Russell Carr, who took tournament title honors by defeating Houston Yates (more on them later) by a 103-91 count. The Wildcats improved to 17-0 and were paced by the 25 points and 12 rebounds of tournament MVP Delvin Dickerson. Teammate Tyler Guidry added 23 points, while Yates fell to 11-2 with the loss.

Austin Lake Travis surprises Galveston Ball
Class 4A No. 1 Galveston Ball lost its first game of the season after 15 wins with a stunning 86-72 pratfall against Lake Travis (Austin) (8-8). Ball seized a 25-16 lead after one quarter and all seemed right, but the Cavaliers came back with a 28-17 second quarter to take a two-point lead into intermission. The lead slowly moved out to four points after three stanzas and Lake Travis dominated in the final quarter.

Longview girls stop Texarkana Liberty-Eylau
Behind dynamic sophomore Imani Wright, Texarkana Liberty-Eylau holds down the No. 2 ranking amongst Class 3A schools, but was snuffed by Longview (13-3), 74-68. The Lady Lobos' Britney Colbert dazzled with 23 points, including nailing all 10 of her free throws in the fourth quarter to help Longview maintain a lead. Wright finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and three blocks as Liberty-Eylau dropped to 12-5.

A look back at the year that was
No team was either more appreciated or more reviled than Yates (Houston). The Lions captured the MaxPreps national title in going unbeaten and in the process destroying the opposition. It begged the age-old debate of whether Greg Wise's team employed good sportsmanship or whether it was fair to ask second and third teamers to play to the system and to the best of their abilities once they entered one-sided contests. Even after Yates has now lost two games this year with a young team, the debate rages on. Wise makes no apologies and has plenty who defend his coaching style. Others, meanwhile, are of the strong opinion there is a right team to take the foot off the pedal when it comes to scoring margins. May the new year find a happy medium for all concerned parties.

Congratulations to Leta Andrew
Granbury girls' coach Leta Andrews recently became the nation's all-time winningest high school basketball coach and surpassed legendary Fort Worth Dunbar coach Robert Hughes in the process. Granbury beat Midlothian for the signature win, at which point Andrews was given a ride to center court by her players for an appropriate time to be recognized. Few come classier over the years than Leta Andrews.

Cayuga wins state
Playing in Class A Division I often does not merit much notice, but Cayuga won a state championship led by the dynamic pair of Traylon Shead and Malcome Kennedy. The same duo led Cayuga to a football championship, which meant their availability to the basketball team did not take place until district play had just about started. Numerous smaller classification schools get a late start to basketball season due to the success of the football team in the state playoffs. Since a lot of these schools have multiple-sport athletes, it is not unusual to find a team with a 0-0 record pop up in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches/Tex Preps Basketball state rankings as late as … well, right now.

No stopping the Ogwumike family
Houston Cypress Fairbanks won the Class 5A girls state championship last year behind the myriad talents of senior Chiney Ogwumike. If the name sounds familiar, it should. Chiney's sister, Nneka, led the Lady Bobcats to a state title two years prior, and both Ogwumikes now suit up for the Stanford Lady Cardinal. Don't be surprised to find an NCAA championship in that program's future with these two talents.

Come back for tournament results
A busy week looms for statewide tournament action, so be sure and come back to catch up on the most extensive list of tournament championship results found anywhere. Oh, and have a Happy New Year!

R.V. Baugus is the publisher of Tex Preps Basketball magazine and texprepsbasketball.com