Schools
Frisco ISD : After Epic Title Game, Memorial Is State Basketball Runner-Up
"We expected to win," Memorial coach Rochelle Vaughn said. "We thought it was there for us to take."
Mar 06, 2022
The Memorial High School girls basketball team was playing in its first state title game, but it didn’t take long to see that the Warriors were not an underdog on Saturday. Even playing against a defending 5A state champion Cedar Park team that had won 61 straight games, Memorial very much looked up to the challenge at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
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“We expected to win,” Memorial coach Rochelle Vaughn said. “We thought it was there for us to take.”
Memorial, in its first UIL state appearance in just the fourth year of the school’s existence, nearly did take it from the nationally ranked opponent. But while the Warriors didn’t take home the state title, falling 45-40 in double overtime, they will take home memories of an incredible season that the players, coaches, fans and Memorial community will never forget.
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Memorial, which finished the season with a 37-6 record, and Cedar Park (37-0) could never build a lead in the nail-biter. It was tied 18-18 at halftime, 35-35 after regulation and 40-40 entering the second overtime. The game was tied a total of 11 times and the lead changed hands eight times.
The critical moment for Memorial came with 27 seconds left in the first overtime when Jasmyn Lott fouled out. The senior led Memorial with 21 points, and when she couldn’t play in the second overtime, Memorial had a more difficult time scoring. Coach Vaughn said she was happy with the shots that Memorial was able to set up, however, and in this case, they just don’t go in.
Falyn Lott and Jordan Conerly each scored six points for Memorial and Brynn Lusby grabbed eight rebounds. Cedar Park put the game away at the free throw line, where the team’s star Gisella Maul scored 11 of her 27 points in the game.
It was a heartbreaking final few moments for Memorial on the Alamodome court, but the rest of the season will undoubtedly be a long happy memory for the team, as well as an inspiration for the Memorial athletic program as it continues to build.
“The outcome wasn’t what we wanted,” Vaughn said, “but I’ll take this team against any team any day.”
This press release was produced by Frisco Independent School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.