ROBINSON — The Harvest Christian Eagles are headed to the TAPPS 1A state title game for a second straight season, taking down Fredericksburg Heritage 78-34 in a TAPPS 1A semifinal Wednesday at Robinson High School.
The Eagles (41-1) will take on Sherman Texoma Christian at 10 a.m. today for the TAPPS 1A state title. Texoma Christian defeated Prosper Prestonwood Christian 52-45 earlier Wednesday to punch its ticket to the championship game.
“We’re excited for another opportunity to be in the title game,” Harvest Christian head coach Jaime Gonzalez said. “We’re enjoying the moment, but we can’t enjoy it for too long. We got another game at 10, so we got to get ready for that one.”
Harvest Christian made uncharacteristic mistakes during the opening quarter, turning the ball over multiple times and missing shots it normally drains.
“I think their physicality kind of affected us a little bit,” Gonzalez said. “We knew going into the game that they were going to be a little bigger, and we were going to have to do a better job at boxing out. It hurt us a little bit. They did a really good job of disrupting our flow. Even though we won by the amount we did, I thought they did a good job of not allowing us to run as free and push the ball. We just had to grind it out.”
Senior Ashley Gonzalez stepped up during the shaky first quarter for the Eagles, netting four 3-pointers en route to a 15-point opening period and a 21-14 Harvest Christian lead after one.
The Eagles flipped a switch during the second quarter, with their full-court press turning the tide of the game as Harvest Christian outscored Fredericksburg Heritage 20-9 in the period to take a 41-23 advantage into the break.
In my head, I was just telling myself we were not going to lose,” Ashley said. “I guess I just had to set the pace, and let the girls know this is just another game and we had to just play our game. It feels really good watching everyone get their groove on after that and seeing us play Eagles basketball again.”
Senior Lexi Garcia and junior Riley McClaugherty combined for 12 points during the period, with Garcia leading the way with seven and McClaugherty adding five.
The Eagles didn’t let up during the second half, outscoring Fredericksburg Heritage 37-11 across the final two periods to secure their state title game berth.
“We had to match their physicality,” McClaugherty said. “We weren’t playing as good as we normally do. We just had to take it play by play. We had to keep the pace and keep pushing it and keep scoring to put the game away.”
Gonzalez led all scorers with 27 points on five made 3-pointers. McClaugherty added 18 points, including 13 during the third quarter. Sophomore Jamie Gonzalez chipped in 13 points, and senior Lexi Garcia added 10.
Senior Elaina Craven led Fredericksburg Heritage with a team-high 19 points, with 17 coming during the first half. Elli Shipman chipped in 10 points.
The Eagles have now outscored their four playoff opponents 332-119 heading into today’s state championship contest against Sherman Texoma Christian.
“We’re just going to stay humble and hungry going into (today),” Ashley said. “We’re not going to take them lightly at all. They’re a good team, but we also know what we got, too. We’re going to play confident but humble.”
