AUSTIN — Rarely is a defending champion so thoroughly dismantled.
Then again, Canyon has a history of making some of the best girls basketball teams in Texas look out of their league at the state tournament.
Freshman guard Angel Hayden scored 18 points, including all nine for her team in the third quarter, and Canyon rolled over defending Class 4A champion Georgetown, 41-22, in a state semifinal Thursday night.
Madison Parker, the only Canyon player left from the school’s 2011 state title team, scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Canyon (33-4) and coach Joe Lombard advanced to Saturday’s 3 p.m. 4A state final with a chance to win their eighth championship since 2000.
Haley Frias scored eight points for Georgetown (31-7), which went nearly 13 minutes of the first half without a field goal. The meeting was a clash of two of the top coaches in Texas history as Lombard and Georgetown’s Rhonda Farney both have more than 1,000 career victories.
Lombard has 15 career state titles at Canyon and Nazareth. His Canyon teams are 15-0 at the state tournament since 2000. Their last tournament loss was in the 1999 state final.
Canyon scored 34 points in the paint and rarely had to settle for jump shots.
Waco La Vega 66, Abilene Wylie 53:
Erin DeGrate had 24 points and 13 rebounds, and Waco La Vega beat Abilene Wylie in a Class 3A state semifinal to keep alive its bid to become the 19th undefeated champion in state history.
La Vega (34-0), which finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the state in 3A, will play second-ranked Argyle in the state championship game at 10 a.m. Saturday. Third-ranked Abilene Wylie finished 30-6 after committing 17 turnovers and shooting 34 percent from the field.
Calveion Landrum scored 19 points for La Vega. She had 10 in the first quarter as the Pirates raced to a 13-2 lead.
The Pirates smothered Abilene Wylie with full-court pressure to force 11 turnovers in the first half. La Vega shot 52 percent in building a 38-16 lead by halftime.
Peyton Sanders scored 15 to lead Abilene Wylie.
Kerens 56, Weimar 36:
Senior guard Taylor Ames scored five of her game-high 21 points early in the third quarter as Kerens grabbed a 28-14 lead and cruised past Weimar in a Class A Division I state semifinal.
Kerens (29-4) built a 40-20 lead after three quarters as the Lady Cats pushed the pace offensively and played a tight man-to-man defense, forcing 37 Weimar turnovers.
Marqueshia Kelly had four blocked shots, eight points and 11 rebounds for Kerens, and Breanna Baxter added 10 points and eight rebounds. Kristie Guerrero led Weimar (33-5) with 10 points and six rebounds.
Kerens will play Plains in Saturday’s 8:30 a.m. championship game.
Plains 56, Santo 39:
Riley Earnest scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Plains past Santo in a Class A Division I semifinal.
Earnest shot 8-of-16 from the field and was 10-for-10 from the free throw line before sitting out the final two minutes of the victory. Tori Reyes added 16 points and 10 rebounds for Plains (29-3), which outrebounded Santo, 44-31.
Plains trailed early as Courtney Flanagan scored five of her seven points to stake Santo (24-9) to a 10-5 lead. Plains responded with a 25-10 run to take a 30-20 halftime lead. Chasen Howard led Santo with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Associated Press
