High school confidential

Mells puts on show at DFW All-Star Game

South Grand Prairie’s Ashlee Mells had 13 of her team-high 17 points in the first half for Tarrant County, which held off a second-half surge from Dallas ISD to win the the fifth annual DFW All-Star Game at Thomas Coliseum, 89-81. It was the second consecutive win for Tarrant County in the second year of the girls game.
“She hit a couple of monster three’s,” said Tarrant County coach John Anderson, the head coach at Fort Worth Christian. “No one expected her to take them at first. Not only that, no one expected her to make them.”
It was the perfect performance in a stress-relieving game for Mells, who has an official visit at Indiana University today.
“I’ve been working pretty hard for it because of the visit,” she said. “It was like a tune-up because I hadn’t played in a while. Normally I go right into AAU season.”
Tarrant County hit consecutive treys to open the game and stretched its run to 16-2 15 minutes in. Dallas ISD didn’t hit its first basket of the game until the 13:25 mark.
There wasn’t much for Dallas ISD to hang its hat on in the first of two 20-minute halves. It was down by double-digits for nearly all of it.
However, Dallas ISD rode an 8-2 run to close the first half and turned it into an impressive showing in the early minutes of the second. With Dallas Skyline’s Sherena Abercrumbia controlling the paint to the tune of 20 points, Dallas ISD erased a 15-point halftime deficit to take a 54-53 lead with 13:00 left.
The game seesawed from that point until Mells hit a free throw at the 7:30 mark to give Tarrant County a 65-64 lead. Fort Worth Wyatt’s Christina Kincaide got back-to-back baskets after that and Mansfield Summit’s Kristin Aldridge collected four of her 11 second-half points in succession after that to put the game away. She ended the game with 13 points. Kincaide (10 points) and Southlake Carroll’s Regan Soldner (11 points) were the others to reach double-digits for Tarrant County.
- William Wilkerson

N. Crowley honors state champs

North Crowley has scheduled a ceremony to recognize its boys basketball team, the Class 5A state champions, from 3-4:30 p.m. on April 12 in the North Crowley gym.

The event includes introduction of the team, presentation to the players, a season highlight video, unveiling of the state championship banner, and players signing autographs.

Tickets will be sold Monday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at North Crowley and cost $2 for adults and $1 for students.

Area basketball standouts honored

North Crowley’s Willie Warren, Fort Worth Dunbar’s Brooklyn Pope and Kennedale’s Destini Hughes were chosen in February as 2008 McDonald’s All-Americans will be honored Thursday night by the McDonald’s Owner/Operators of North Texas with a congratulatory send-off ceremony at 7 p.m. tonight. The send-off will be at the McDonald’s at 3200 SE Loop 820 in Fort Worth at the intersection of I-820 and Wichita St.
School and community guests, as well as parents and McDonald’s representatives will join Warren, Pope and Hughes.
Warren, who led North Crowley to its first state championship, is the lone Texan playing in the boys game, while Pope and Hughes are two of the four players from Texas on the girls’ West roster. Both games will be March 26 in Milwaukee, Wis. and will be nationally televised.

North Crowley, Southwest, Kennedale learn opponents

North Crowley, Southwest and Kennedale learned their opponents and game times at this week's UIL state tournament.

North Crowley (36-1) will take on San Antonio Madison (32-7) in a Class 5A semifinal at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

Southwest (30-6) will go against Houston Wheatley (29-5) in a 4A semifinal at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, a matchup of the teams that knocked off the top two-ranked teams in the state coaches poll this weekend. Southwest defeated previously unbeaten Amarillo Palo Duro in overtime, and Wheatley downed Houston Yates in two overtimes.

In 3A, Kennedale (31-5) meets Silsbee (29-6) in a semifinal at 2 p.m. Thursday.

All the games are at the Erwin Center on the University of Texas campus in Austin.

The finals are Saturday. The 2A championship is at 10 a.m., the 4A championship is at 3:30, and the 5A championship is at 8:30.

Final: FW Southwest 102, Sherman 93

Fort Worth Southwest is moving on to the Class 4A regionals after a hard-fought victory over a gritty Sherman team. The Raiders (28-6) led by as many as 17 points in the first half before seeing their advantage trimmed to three late in the third quarter. However, Michael Conner scored nine of his team-high 25 points in the fourth quarter to help Southwest pull away. Conner also had 16 rebounds, while Kendall Timmons added 23 points. Conner and Timmons have both scored more than 20 points in all three of the Raiders' playoff victories. Miguel Turley added 16 points. Southwest faces Canyon Randall on Friday at 5:30 p.m. in San Angelo.

-- Lori Dann

Late free throws key Aledo win

After surrendering the lead in the final minute, Aledo hit four free throws in the final 21 seconds to pull out a 56-55 victory over Denton Ryan in the second round of the playoffs. That sets up a Class 4A Region I quarterfinal matchup with Fort Worth Dunbar. No one was more relieved after Aledo's win than coach David Walker, whose technical foul with 52 seconds left helped Ryan grab a 53-52 advantage. Hannah Christian and Logan Mittie each hit two free throws to put Aledo up 56-53, then Ryan's Alex Ray missed the potential tying 3-pointer. Emily Paramore's putback at the buzzer left the Lady Raiders (21-12) a point short. "Thank goodness they kept their composure because I didn’t,” Walker said of his players. “They had my back tonight.” Christian and Taylor Hays had 17 points each for the Ladycats (31-4), and Mittie added 14.

-- Lori Dann

Everman taking different approach at Stephenville

In a must-win game at Stephenville, Everman will go against its own strengths tonight to try to force a playoff game for the final postseason spot in Class 8-4A. Despite the midseason loss of three players to grades -- all of whom started at some point this season -- the Bulldogs (17-14, 8-5) have won four of their past five games and are one game behind third-place Stephenville, which has lost two straight. However, the last time Everman played the Yellow Jackets, the Bulldogs were burned by guards Victor Martinez and Trey Taylor, who combined for 49 points. Stephenville had seven 3-pointers in the first half. "They really hurt us in transition with layups and kickouts for threes," Everman coach Jay Mathieson said. Look for more of a deliberate approach by the Bulldogs tonight. "If our press is going we can be very successful, but we tried that before and they sliced right through us," Mathieson said. "We're going to try to slow it down a little, even though that goes against what we typically do best."

-- Lori Dann

Dunbar boys playoff bound again

Some things never change. The Dunbar boys are headed back to the playoffs for the 33rd consecutive year, and they still have hopes of grabbing a share of the District 7-4A regular-season title. The Wildcats scored the first 17 points of the game on their way to a 96-60 blowout of Fort Worth Eastern Hills at Wilkerson-Greines Activitiy Center. Keith Parker had 11 of those first 17 points and finished with a career-high 32 for Dunbar, which has won six consecutive games by margins of 53, 29, 19, 76, 24 and 36 points. Jason Smith added 26. The Wildcats (26-5, 12-3) are a game behind Fort Worth Southwest (24-5, 13-2) heading into Tuesday's regular-season finale between the two teams.

-- Lori Dann

Southwest overcomes tough week

Despite a flu bug which caused five players, including three starters, to miss part of the week of practice, the Fort Worth Southwest Raiders clinched at least a share of the District 7-4A regular-season title Friday night with an 84-76 win over Fort Worth Wyatt. Michael Conner, who sat out Thursday's practice because he was sick, scored a game-high 29 points for Southwest, including 10 during a critical 20-10 run in the third quarter. Kendall Timmons added 24 points, 19 of them in the second half after the Raiders had shaken off a sluggish start. Justin Rogers and James Wooden had 22 each for Wyatt, which had several first-half leads, but none more than four points. Southwest (24-5, 13-2) leads Fort Worth Dunbar 26-5, 12-3) by one game heading into their Tuesday night showdown in the regular-season finale.

-- Lori Dann

Gipson, Sloane lead Birdville over Springtown

Whitney Gipson had 13 of her game-high 17 points in the second half to lead Birdville to a 52-37 victory over Springtown at Birdville High School on Tuesday. Alaina Sloane chipped in with eight points and 10 rebounds to move its record to 15-12 and 9-1 in District 6-4A, currently good enough for first place. Vanessa Burtnett had 16 points and Sarah Workman had 11 more for Springtown (10-11, 6-5). Workman caused quite the stir with her three-point buzzer beater at the end of the third. It cut Birdville’s lead to seven. The Lady Porcupines got no closer than five, though, as Gipson’s speed and Sloane’s strength proved too much.
- William Wilkerson