Swish! The sound of the basketball passing through the net echoed throughout the gym; it ripped through the suspenseful silence, but that silence didn’t last long. The crowd erupted in continuous cheers, and everyone on the Cy-Springs bench hopped up in joy. The score board shifted and Cypress Springs was in the lead. This isn’t a one time thing; this has been occurring all season for our girls varsity basketball team.
Being ranked first in district for girls varsity basketball isn’t an easy feat, yet this is an accomplishment that our school has reached. The expectations set by Coach Rogers were successfully reached as our team dominated their opponents throughout the season and claimed the district championship for the second year in a row.
Tonight the Lady Panthers faceoff with Klein in round one of the playoffs at Cy Ridge at 7 p.m. and look to cross off another team goal.
“I feel good about the success we are having. The girls are working hard everyday at practice and we have a lot of kids stepping up,” Head Coach Rogers said.
The team has achieved many accomplishments this season, as a team, they went undefeated in district play to win the championship, they only have a total of two losses in contrast to their 27 wins, and have a 25 win streak—but not only were their team achievements—individuals had achieved on their own. Senior, Mariyah Vincent, reached her 1000th point this season, which is commonly seen as a major accomplishment for high school basketball players.
“It feels good, I’ve been through so much when it comes to this basketball stuff, so for all my hard work to finally pay off, it’s just a blessing,” Vincent said.
Vincent is one of the many key players that helped the team make it to the playoffs.
She has been working hard in order to help take the team to state. Last season Vincent played for DeSoto who went to State now she is hoping the Lady Panther will make it.
“I’ve been in the gym like 24/7. Making sure my body is right, and my mind is right as well. Just putting in the work I need to put in,” Vincent said.
She has faith in her team and believes that they all work well together and have potential to reach something special.
“We have a whole bunch of fun, like we freestyle, we play around, but whenever the time comes to be on the court we take it seriously, and like I said we work hard and we put the work in that needs to be done,” Vincent said. “It’s a really great team to be a part of, we have fun and we work hard, and our coach pushes us above our limits. I feel really good about the playoffs right now, we’ve shown that we can work hard and shown that we can hustle, and do everything we need to do to win.”
Another key player, freshman Jemini Mitchell, is also a huge factor on varsity—which is relatively hard to achieve, as middle school and high school sports are known to have different levels of complexities, whether that’s competing or conditioning. Mitchell had good expectations when coming into high school basketball, and she believes that those expectations were reached. She believed that her expectations as a basketball player in high
school all depended on her coaches and how well she worked with her team.
“I would say, we are great. I mean like individually we all do our parts just to win. But I feel like we are all, I don’t even know how to explain it, it is like we are a great team.” Mitchell said.
Mitchell was inspired by her three older brothers to start playing basketball as they all play sports, so she felt connected to basketball in a way. The inspiration from her brothers led to her being ranked as the best freshman in the state of Texas this year.
“It is an honor, but it is also like work I put in so it is humbly a good thing and I feel like I just keep working and I’ll be on top still,” Mitchell said.
Most would assume Mitchell feels pressure from being seen as the best freshman in the state, and by being a key player of the team—but Mitchell doesn’t seem to feel that way.
“No I do not feel any pressure, I just feel like I know all the work I put in on and off the court, so it is like just go play basketball, do you.” Mitchell said.
Senior, Evonne Sidney, is a key player of our team as well. Her abilities and toughness helps the team continue their path to success. Her energy spreads and gets everyone else hyped up; a player like this keeps the team lively and helps the team find fun and good things in the game according to her teammates.
“I don’t really feel any pressure. I take basketball seriously, but not as seriously as others would. So it is just fun for me so I do not feel any pressure,” Sidney said.
Sidney started playing basketball because she had broken her hand freshman year before volleyball season, and since she was bored, she decided to start playing basketball.
She believes her older sister was an inspiration as she played basketball as well, so that only made her more connected to the sport.
“My team as a whole, I would say, we are a great team, we are cohesive and we have a lot of fun. Each person has their own different personality, we are all very different in a good way, and I think that brings us together,” Sidney said.
Junior, Ayla McDowell, is often seen as a star player of the team—averaging 19.8 points per game. She is a two time MVP, receiving district MVP during freshman and sophomore year.
“I feel better as a person, more confident, feeling better as a leader, and I feel like I’ve helped my team get to where they need to be this year,” McDowell said.
McDowell has faith in her team and she believes that they all have good relationships with each other which improves their success as a team. “
“ We have great chemistry, and we all get along with each other and that is what makes us good,” McDowell said.
While these players have played key roles for Lady Panthers Rogers is proud of the entire and is quick to point out a lot different players have stepped up at key moments and made an impact.
The team’s talent has not gone unnoticed as they are ranked 11th in Houston area as well as 11th in the state. They are also ranked third in the region and seventh overall in Texas 6A.
Success is known to come with pressure; however Rogers and the players of the girls varsity basketball team agree to disagree.
“I don’t think it’s any pressure, we don’t pay attention to rankings or hype. We have a goal and it doesn’t matter what people rank us as. We have a goal and we aren’t going to stop till we reach it,” Rogers said. “I think this team is more focused on getting to San Antonio and that’s our overall goal, winning state.”
A game that stood out to players the most this season—was Langham Creek—despite the fact they beat them twice. Mitchell believed that the last game against them stood out because it was Rogers 200th win and because that was our school’s biggest competition. The game was the closet game by far the Lady Panthers faced in district action but the girls prevailed for a 71-65 win.
“The Langham game: everybody was on the floor, everybody was hustling, we had our freshman hit some pretty big threes, the defense was really good that game, and the energy was great. Everybody was able to keep their composure so that was great,” Vincent said.
The energy and competitiveness was still there, but they all managed to maintain sportsmanship—which is important to have in order to achieve success and victory.
The Lady Panthers prepare for their games in many ways. Whether that’s praying together, watching films, stretching, freestyling—-they all stay together and spend time with each other and connect; which helps them play well together and overall helped them make it to the playoffs.
Cy-Springs is once again in the lead, and the scoreboard timer hit zero, the Lady Panthers again are victorious finishing 14-0 in district and now enter the playoffs.
Their hard work, dedication, and effort paid off as they are achieving their goals, but they’re not done working, and all of their goals aren’t yet accomplished.
They still want to make it to state, the path to San Antonio starts now.
