High school confidential

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.

Justin Rogers made a layup with 12 seconds left, and a last-second layup try by Dunbar’s Darious Jones rolled off the rim as Wyatt defeated Dunbar, 48-46, in a Class 4A Region I quarterfinal game Tuesday night at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center. Dunbar did not have a timeout left, having taken its last before Jones made one of two free throws to tie the game with 17 seconds left. The Wildcats got a pass inside to Jones under the basket, but he was a little too far under it, and his layup try bounced off the back of the rim.
Wyatt (21-13) is in the state sweet 16 for the first time since 1992. Dunbar ended its season at 29-6.

-Carlos Mendez

Dunbar survives Christian-lead Aledo to reach regional semifinals

Hannah Christian did all she could to will Aledo past Dunbar on Tuesday. But there was only so much she could do against Brooklyn Pope and the Lady Wildcats. Christian finished with 23 points in dazzling fashion but Pope countered with 26 points, 13 rebounds and 13 blocks to lead Dunbar to a 63-51 win in the Region I Regional Quarterfinals at Colleyville Heritage High School on Tuesday. The defending 4A state champion Lady Wildcats, who have just three seniors, will play either Amarillo Palo Duro or Lubbock Estacado in the regional semifinals on Feb. 22 at Stephens Arena at Angelo State University at 7 p.m. Dunbar trailed the entire way until Pope’s layup with 3:21 put the Lady Wildcats up 54-53. Taylor Hays hit two free throws with 4:01 left to give Aledo (31-5) a 53-48 lead, but the Ladycats wouldn’t score again. Dunbar stepped up its defensive intensity, forced the ball out of Christian’s hands, and ended the game on a 13-0 run. Sophomore Taylor Collier had 14 points and freshman Jazmin Wiley added eight points for Dunbar (30-5). Aledo held a 21-16 lead after the first and went into the locker room up 38-32. Christian had 17 points in the half. The Ladycats scored just 15 points in the second half.
- William Wilkerson

Dunbar runs by Richland in playoff warm-up game

Dunbar continued its string of success since a Jan. 18 loss to Wyatt by winnings its eighth in a row with an 89-79 win over Richland in a playoff warm-up game at Thomas Coliseum on Saturday. Jason Smith had 27 points and Darious Jones added 26 for Dunbar (28-5), which will enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in District 7-4A after it won a coin-flip with Southwest, with whom they tied for the district title. They’ll await either Western Hills of Denison in the area round on either Feb. 22 or 23. Kyle Green added 17 and Tommy Butler had 16 points for Richland (25-7), which finished the regular season 25-6 overall and 11-3 in 5-5A. They had won six straight. Richland led 23-22 after the first, but couldn’t contain the penetration of the nifty Jones or the rebounding efforts of Smith to pull out the win. Richland, the No. 2 seed out of District 5-5A, will face Flower Mound Marcus at Euless Trinity High School on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
- William Wilkerson

Final: FW Dunbar 108, FW Southwest 96

Darious Jones scored 22 points in the second half, including 10 straight in a fourth-quarter stretch, as Dunbar pulled away for a 108-96 victory against Southwest to force a tie for the District 7-4A championship Tuesday night. The teams were talking about whether to play a tiebreaker for the title or rest up for the playoffs.
Jones finished with 39 points on 17-of-23 shooting. At one point, he made 13 of 14 shots.
Jason Smith added 35 points and 13 rebounds for the Wildcats (27-5, 13-3).
Michael Conner had 30 points and 16 rebounds for Southwest (24-6, 13-3), and Duane Kinney and Kendall Timmons added 20 points each. The Raiders made 10 3-pointers, including six by Kinney.

--Carlos Mendez

Dunbar rolls Krum in playoff warm-up game

Brooklyn Pope had 27 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks to lead Dunbar to a 56-38 victory over Krum in a playoff warm-up game Saturday at Dallas ISD’s Ellis Field House. Dunbar, the defending 4A state champs, rank No. 5 in Class 4A by the states coaches. They’ll play the winner of Fossil Ridge and Denton Guyer on Feb. 15 at a location to be determined as they begin their pursuit for their third state title in four years. Krum is the No. 1 2A school and finished the regular season 31-1.
It was good competition for the Wildcats, who rarely saw that while going 16-0 in District 7-4A. Dunbar, who finished the regular season 25-5, outscored district opponents by 828 points, an average margin of victory of 51.7 points. Krum fought to within two points in the early stages of the third quarter in part to 20 Dunbar turnovers. But the Wildcats went on an 11-0 run from that point and ended the game on a 29-13 run.
- William Wilkerson

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

Dunbar gets a warm-up as part of Ellis FH quadruple-header

It's a playoff warmup quadruple-header on Saturday at the Dallas ISD's Ellis Field House, and the Dunbar girls are part of it.

The Wildcats, winners of two state championships in the past three seasons, are taking on Class 2A power Krum at 4 p.m. It will be a tough matchup for both teams. Dunbar (25-5) is No. 5 in the state coaches' 5A poll, and Krum (31-1) is No. 1 in the 2A poll.

These are the other games:

South Oak Cliff vs. Amarillo Palo Duro, noon

Dallas Roosevelt vs. Waco Midway, 2 p.m.

Dallas Skyline vs. Lancaster, 6 p.m.

Dunbar basketball opponent Hoover missing top player

San Diego (Calif.) Hoover, in Fort Worth on Saturday night to take on Dunbar in a boys basketball game at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center, is in the midst of a good season. But it will be without its best player for the game.

Corey Trisby, a 6-3 senior averaging 18 points (and has committed to play quarterback at UTEP), suffered a sprained knee in a game this week. It makes a young team even younger, coach Ollie Goulston said.

"We have eight freshman and sophomores playing," he said.

The Cardinals (16-4) will turn to second-leading scorer Jovan Carmon (16.5 points per game) and 6-8 freshman Angelo Chol (11.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 7.5 blocks). "He's had a couple of triple-doubles already this year," Goulston said.

The San Diego Union-Tribune's Hoover basketball page has lots more info for anyone who wants to get better acquainted with the team.

And one more thing: Yes, Hoover likes to run and gun. "Maybe not like Dunbar, but we like to get up and down the floor," he said.

Pope, Hughes listed among nation's best

Fort Worth Dunbar's Brooklyn Pope is one of two area basketball players and four Texans listed in RISE Magazine's Class of 2008 top 20 girls recruits, released earlier this week. Pope, a two-time state champion headed to Rutgers next season, is the magazine's seventh-highest recruit. Kennedale's Destini Hughes, who won a Class 4A championship two years ago at Waxahachie, is No. 15 and headed to LSU.

Elena Delle Donne of Urusuline Academy (Wilmington, Del.) is the nation's top senior and regarded as one of the top recruits in recent history. The 6-4 guard/forward is already a three-time state champion and headed to UConn next year. She's one of three UConn signees on the list, which ties LSU for the second-most signees in the top 20. Tennessee, a seven-time national champion, has five signees including three of the top eight players.

Cy-Fair's Nneka Ogwumike is No. 3, while Briana Gilbreath of Katy Cinco Ranch is No. 19. The four Texans are the most from any state. Ohio has three. Only one player listed is headed to a Texas school, with Ashley Gayle of Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) headed to Texas.