George Ranch varsity girls' basketball dominated the VYPE-Aldine ISD Holiday Hoops Classic presented by the United States Marine Corps going 4-0 over the weekend.
With scores of 69-28 against La Marque and 75-31 over Eisenhower in pool games, the Longhorns weren't a team to be messed with heading to the semis the following day. On Saturday, the girls continued that same pace to beat Lutheran North, 56-40, in the semifinals to land themselves in the championship versus the Heights' Lady Bulldogs.
The first quarter was plagued by personal fouls for the Lady Longhorns, leading to many substitutions to avoid multiple fouls on their starters. This didn't phase the Lady Longhorns, as Gabrielle Owens and Savannah Velazquez took up the slack on defense and with their stellar offensive skills. This contributed to a 21-12 lead going into the second quarter.
With many substitutions made in the first half of the game, it was easily noticed that the team could adapt quickly to any new changes made. Communication was never lost, and their fast scoring pace continued. For the Lady Bulldogs, Kamryn Cole and Gracelynn Alvarez picked it for the Bulldogs making the score at the end of the first half 38-28 George Ranch.
By the third quarter, Alvarez stepped it up for her Lady Bulldogs with two 3-pointers setting the tone for an aggressive second half of the game. George Ranch answered back with some shots of their own to maintain their lead from Jaedyn Dunn, Savannah Velazquez, and Gabrielle Owens. The score by the end of the third quarter would be 58-43.
The fourth quarter had some significant changes made by the Heights. As other teams who had played George Ranch earlier in the tournament, their scores didn't compete nearly with the Lady Longhorns' high scoring numbers. The Lady Bulldogs decided to attack from higher up the key and denied George Ranch of any opportunity to get inside the paint to score. This limited George Ranch's scoring but did not stop it completely. The final score was 67-58 making it George Ranch's closest score of the entire tournament.
MVP of the overall tournament went to George Ranch's very own Gabrielle Owens. The all-tournament team who participated in the championship included Jaedyn Dunn, Savannah Velazquez, and Gracelynn Alvarez.
Bradley C. Collier (VYPE)
