Champions crowned at girls state basketball tournament

AUSTIN (AP) - State championships were handed out Saturday at the Erwin Center. The action capped of three days of basketball.

Martin's Mill (1A-Div. I), Whitharral (1A-Div. II), Brock (2A), Mexia (3A), Georgetown (4A) and Duncanville (5A) all captured state titles on Saturday.

• Click here for Thursday's wrap-up
• Click here for Friday's wrap-up

Class 1A Division I
Haily Jenkins' jumper with 13 seconds left sent Martin's Mill to 49-46 win over two-time state champion Smyer in the Class 1A Division I title game Saturday.

Martin's Mill, which lost in the title game previous three years, twice to Smyer, tied it 46-46 on Cheyenne Brown's layup with 35 seconds left. Brown also made a free throw 1 second left for the final margin for Martin's Mill (34-5).

Jenkins scored 21 points and had the assist on Brown's tying basket. Brown had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Kennedy Farr had 20 points and Jordan Locke scored 17 for Smyer (33-7), which hadn't trailed since the opening seconds until Jenkins' game winner. Martin's Mill trailed by 10 with 4:30 left to play but closed the game with a 15-2 run.

Class 1A Division II
Taylor Moore scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Whitharral to the Class 1A Division II state championship with a 45-36 victory over Saltillo on Saturday night.

Mia Ochoa and Maeci Scott each scored 12 points for Whitharral (38-4).

Saltillo, which lost in the playoffs each of the previous three seasons to eventual state champion Neches, finally made it to the final but fell behind 9-4 by the end of the first quarter and trailed by as much as 10 in the second. Whitharral made four 3-pointers in the first half.

Saltillo got within 30-27 in the second half before an 8-2 run by Whitharral opened up nine-point lead for the Lady Panthers.

Victoria Stretcher had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Saltillo (32-6).

Class 2A
Brock's championship machine keeps rolling along.

Braylee Flaska scored 16 points and Brock won its fifth consecutive Class 2A state championship with a 40-32 victory over Merkel on Saturday. Brock led 29-27 to start the fourth quarter and pulled away behind a 9-0 run keyed by Rachel Williams' 3-pointer with 3:08 to play.

Brock (35-5) is just the second team in state history to win five consecutive championships. Nazareth won six in a row in Class B and Class 1A from 1977 to 1982.

Lexie Ducat scored 10 points for Brock, which has played in the state tournament nine times since 2000 and won seven titles.

Ciara Cope scored 17 points to lead Merkel (38-2) , which made the title game in its first state tournament.

Class 3A
Freshman Na'Teshia Owens scored 23 points to go with eight rebounds and five assists in leading Mexia past Kennedale 69-62 Saturday to win the Class 3A state championship.

Owens, a high energy 5-foot-6 guard, led the Mexia attack with quick drives to the basket and pinpoint passing. Mexia (36-3) also got 14 points and 11 rebounds from Brechelle Beachum.

Beachum was 6 of 6 on free throws in the fourth quarter, including two that put Mexia ahead 66-62 with 25 seconds left.

McKinley Bostad and Autummn Williams both scored 19 points for Kennedale (31-7). A basket by Williams pulled Mexia within two points in the final minute, but she missed a shot to tie with 36 seconds left before Beachum put the game away from the line.

Class 4A
Kaitlin Walla scored 26 points and had six assists, leading top-ranked Georgetown to the Class 4A state championship Saturday with a 65-60 win over Dallas Lincoln.

Walla, a Texas State signee, scored 11 points in the fourth quarter. Her turnaround jumper with 1:37 to play gave Georgetown a 59-58 lead it never relinquished.

Lorrie Santoy scored 14 points on 7 of 10 shooting for Georgetown (34-4), which shot 58 percent to overcome nine 3-pointers by Lincoln. Georgetown dominated scoring in the paint 36-18.

Lincoln (36-4) pulled within 61-60 on Kelsey Criner's free throws with 26 seconds left before Georgetown closed it out with four free throws by Walla and Caitlyn Buttram.

Alisha Washington scored 18 points for Lincoln, but only three in the second half.

Class 5A
Duncanville remains a perfect team. In fact, make that a perfect state champion.

The Pantherettes won their second straight Texas Class 5A state championship Saturday night with 59-36 rout of Cibolo Steele.

Kiara Perry provided the early spark in Duncanville's 70th consecutive victory, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the first half as the Pantherettes (42-0) built a 20-point lead by the second quarter.

Duncanville's third state title in 10 years was yet another milestone for one of the state's most dominant programs. Duncanville became the first repeat 5A champion since Mansfield won four in a row from 1999-2002.

Perry finished with 20 points and13 rebounds and was named the game's most valuable player. Ariel Atkins scored 13 for Duncanville.

McKenzie Calvert scored 19 to lead Cibolo Steele (33-6) points.

Duncanville has simply romped through the last two seasons. The Pantherettes' 38-point win in the 2012 state title game was the largest margin in 5A tournament history and they rolled through this season, winning their games by an average of 32 points. Only three opponents all season stayed within 10 points and Duncanville's closest win in the postseason was by 19.

With that resume, Duncanville rolled into its 22nd state tournament as the No. 1 team in Texas and ranked No. 2 in the country by USA Today.

Cibolo Steele had a chance to blow all that away. The upstart Knights have had a varsity program for only seven years but have made the state tournament four times. Saturday was their first appearance in the final after a semifinal upset of No. 2 Pflugerville on Friday night.

But given their chance to stake a claim as one of the best teams in Texas history, Duncanville delivered everything that was expected.

Bearing the pressure of living up to its fearsome reputation, Duncanville started a bit slow showed some frustration when Atkins picked up her third foul early in the second quarter. But Steele couldn't account for Perry, who scored six points in the first quarter and knocked down an off-balance jumper in a 3-point play that put Duncanville up 20-7 in the second.

Aktins scored 29 points in Duncanville's semifinal victory over League City Clear Springs, but spent most of the second quarter on the bench. Perry easily filled the void, driving for baskets and or popping mid-range jumpers from either side. Tasia Foman's 3-pointer put Duncanville ahead 30-10 late in the second.

Steele was simply overwhelmed on both ends. Duncanville harassed the Steele guards on the perimeter, denying them driving and passing lanes and the Knights missed 20 of 23 shots in the first half.

Perry scored Duncanville's first shot of the third quarter and Atkins scored eight points in the period. The quarter ended with Perry dribbling straight down the for a soft floater at the buzzer for a 48-24 Duncanville lead.

Perry put the exclamation point on her big night at the start of the fourth when she stepped out for long 3-pointer and flashed a big smile and she back-pedaled back down the court.