Jack Dwyer Sports Writer
Wimberley made history last Tuesday night as the Lady Texans defeated the La Vernia Bears 46-43 to capture the Bi-District Championship in Seguin. The victory was the first time Wimberley had won in Bi-District round of the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Heading into their showdown with La Vernia, the Lady Texans were very familiar with the Bears, having last played in the Bi-District round of the playoffs last year. Last year’s game saw La Vernia blow out Wimberley 69-46 as the Bears ended the Lady Texans season.
With Wimberley coming into this year’s Bi-District game with a 23-16 record and a third place finish in district, the Lady Texans were ready to avenge their playoff loss and win themselves a gold ball trophy.
The first quarter saw Wimberley jump all over the La Vernia with their suffocating defensive feeding into their fast break offense as the Lady Texans went up 12-4 over the Bears.
La Vernia was able to hit a late three in the final seconds of the first quarter as Wimberley went into the second quarter, up 12-7.
The Bears were able to claw into the Lady Texans lead despite the Lady Texans best efforts. La Vernia was out in front, 19-18 late in the second quarter.
Wimberley put themselves back in front with a last minute shot to go up 20-19, but a La Vernia buzzer-beating three-pointer had the Bears back in front, leaving the Lady Texans to trail 22-20 heading at half time.
But the buzzer-beating three-pointer hardly affected Wimberley. The Lady Texans responded by going on 7-0 to open the third quarter to retake the lead at 27-22. La Vernia responded by going on an 8-0 run, capped off by another three-pointer as the Bears were back in front, up 30-27, with seconds left in the third quarter. Two late free throws by the Lady Texans cut the lead down as Wimberley headed into the fourth quarter trailing 30-29.
Wimberley opened up the quarter on a 5-0 run to take back the lead at 34-30.
The quarter turned into a fierce back and forth showdown as both the Texans and Bears traded the lead back and forth with both of their seasons on the line. La Vernia was able to find some breathing room late in the quarter as the Bears led 41-36. But refusing to give, the Lady Texans made their comeback.
Wimberley closed out the game on a 10-2 run using their late game free throw shooting to stun the Bears and take home the trophy.
Now advancing to the second round the Lady Texans found themselves up against the Navasota Lady Rattlers who finished first in the district and came into the game with a 31-3 record. Unfortunately for the Lady Texans, they couldn’t keep the Cinderella run going as they fell just short to the Rattlers losing 5046 on Thursday night in Smithville.
The Lady Texans truly turned their season around as they started with a 2-6 record early on and the season but never gave up and fought hard to finish with a positive record and a chance to do some damage in the playoffs.
Head Coach Caleb Hall took any chance he could to play the team against some great competition as he knew that that would only help them improve and get them prepared for the tough teams they were going to face in the playoffs. “Our girls want to play, and they get better every night that they do play.”
Hall started playing them after they lost a tight game to the Burnett Bulldogs who finished first in their district with a 29-8 record on a night that was supposed to be a rest night for the team.
