The new kids on the block in 2A had no problems adjusting to realignment.
Lipan, who is newly promoted to 2A this year, started out strong out of the gates early and despite going in a drought in the fourth quarter, the free throw line helped clinch the game for the Lady Indian, winning their first state title in 2A and first since 2016 with a 44-39 victory over Martin’s Mill.
“We took it as a challenge this year,” Lipan head coach Amber Branson said.
Chelsea lott garnered the most valuable player honors for the game, scoring 18 points and collecting five rebounds.
Lipan looked to have done their part in sealing the game away in the third quarter with Marti Seymour hitting a three at the 4:56 mark and a layup from Lott.
Trinity Benitez split free throws to give the Lady Indians a 35-23 edge after three quarters of play.
Martin’s Mill started the fourth quarter on a 11-1 run to cut the Lipan lead down to four at the 3:26 mark with the help of junior guard Jada Celsur, who finished with a game high 21 points, Katy Lindsey and Libby Rogers.
Lott ended the Lipan drought with a basket down low with 14 seconds left and a long basket from Celsur to bring the game to three.
CELSUR. WOW. pic.twitter.com/A0MT6fvKcb
— #TXHSGBB—TXHSGBB.com (@TXHSGBB) March 11, 2021
Martin’s Mill has lots of promise for their young roster, with only two seniors on the roster and gaining key experience during their playoff run and being a part of close games.
“The clock was on our side, we took too many shots too quickly there,” Branson said. “We were making them play defense for only 10 seconds and had to go back down and get stops. We tried to tell them to take as much time off the clock and get great shots and layups. We had to settle them down a little bit.”
“I felt like what gave Lipan from separation from us toward the end of the first half was getting some fast break points on us that we didn’t do a good job of getting back like we should have and allowed them to get easy buckets,” Martin’s Mill head coach Tommy Cross said. “I thought we did a good job defensively as far as trying to keep their main scorers under control. We tried really hard to get back, protect the paint, and try to make Lipan earn every point.”
“We started pressing at that point and he [coach Cross] told us to take it one possession at at time,” Celsur said. “We would grab the ball, push it, and get it up the court as fast as we could. We just had to really not pay attention to the scoreboard, but take it one possession at a time.”
