ARLINGTON — The Pflugerville girls basketball team now has a streak going in the Mansfield Spring Creek Barbeque Invitational.
Pflugerville led from the start Saturday night and held off Flower Mound Marcus, 61-55, in the championship game.
Two years ago, Pflugerville won the tournament. Last year, Pflugerville played in the KSA Holiday Basketball Tournament in Orlando, Fla., and won it.
“So, it’s kinda back-to-back to win this tournament,” Pflugerville coach Nancy Walling said. “We’re thrilled.”
Pflugerville (22-2), the state’s 16th-ranked 5A team, led by 11 on three occasions. Fourth-ranked Marcus (17-2) pulled to 40-37 on Ashley James’ three-point play in the third quarter, but Pflugerville scored the quarter’s final eight points to take a 48-37 lead into the fourth.
Alyssa Echols scored 16 points and Kalea King added 15 for Pflugerville. Morgan Easley scored 15 for Marcus, which saw its 16-game winning streak end.
With the win over Marcus and a 65-50 semifinal victory against No. 6 Arlington Bowie earlier Saturday, Pflugerville beat teams ranked fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh in the state in 5A by a combined 54 points over the last two days.
Bowie takes third: In the third-place game, Bowie held Mansfield Timberview scoreless for the final 3:23 in a 51-47 victory.
Timberview (15-7) led most of the game before Bowie (16-2) staged a fourth-quarter comeback sparked by Emerald Mayfield, who scored a game-high 19 points. Mayfield’s basket with 1:11 left gave Bowie the lead for good.
Kansas signee Terriell Bradley led Timberview with 15 points, while Texas Tech signee Dayo Olabode scored 14 points.
Earlier Saturday, Jasmine Richard’s layup with 40 seconds left broke a tie and propelled Marcus to a 55-54 semifinal win over Timberview. Timberview was trying to reach the tournament’s championship game for the sixth time in seven years.
Scoring record challenged: Jordan Moore scored 36 points for Round Rock Stony Point in a 66-63 win over Cibolo Steele in the fifth-place game. USC signee McKenzie Calvert scored 33 for Steele. Moore fell four points short of the tournament's single-game scoring record that was set in 2008 by Cibolo Steele's Meighan Simmons, who now plays for the University of Tennessee.
Staff writer Greg Riddle contributed to this report.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP: Alyssa Echols, Pflugerville
Chastity Patterson, GP North Shore
Stylz Sanders, Mansfield Summit
Madison Parker, Canyon
Autumn Avina, RR Stony Point
Terriell Bradley, Mansfield Timberview
Jazmine Holman, Arlington Bowie
Vanessa Jones, FM Marcus
Morgan Easley, FM Marcus
Stephanie Onyeje, Pflugerville