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A Cardinal win: Strong second half propels JPII girls to school's first TAPPS title
Argyle Liberty Christian 12 Rebekah Hand, Fr
John Paul II, 23 Arabella DeAngelis
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
MANSFIELD -- The first half of Saturday's TAPPS 5A State Championship had an eerily similar feeling to it for the John Paul II girls basketball team (26-11).
Exactly one year removed from the night in which the Lady Cardinals' offense went cold in a state semifinal loss to Ursuline, the shots betrayed John Paul yet again early on Saturday. But unlike the nightmarish end to 2011-12, the Lady Cardinals weathered a shooting slump and made school history by becoming the first John Paul team to capture a TAPPS State Title after beating Argyle Liberty Christian, 46-39, at Mansfield Legacy.
"It's huge for these kids," said Mike Martin, John Paul head coach. "This is a long season and having to teach these kids a brand new system is always a challenge. The kids bought in early and then bought in completely midway through and were committed to what we were doing."
That trend held form Saturday.
Although Liberty struck first on a pull-up jumper from Sydney Goodson for a 32-31 lead with 6:03 to play, the Lady Cardinals fired back with a 3-ball from senior Kindell Texada. Junior Arabella DeAngelis added five points, including a corner 3-pointer, to improve John Paul's lead to 41-35 and with 57 seconds to play and Texada brought the championship within arm's reach after scoring an and-1 for a 44-36 lead that evoked an emphatic fist-pump from the point-forward.
"When we hit that play, I think that was the sign it was ours," Texada said. "Every emotion came through my body and I just let it out right then."
Goodson hit a 3-pointer with 35 seconds to go to make it 44-39, but John Paul junior Claire Ricketts iced the win after a pair of free throws with eight ticks remaining.
"Those free throws felt so good," Ricketts said. "Those are the shots you have to make and the shots that you work for. The free throw is the easiest shot in basketball and on the bench they told us that if we made ours that we'd win."
A victory proved anything but a certainty early as John Paul managed to overcome its lowest first-half scoring output all year.
The Lady Cardinals made just three first-half field goals. That was enough for a 6-5 lead after one, but Liberty's Hannah Hand took charge in the second quarter to score eight of her team-high 15 points and helm a 16-11 Lady Warriors' lead entering halftime.
"It was the whole deal of why are we waiting until our last game of the season to play out of our character," Martin said, "and if we were strong enough mentally to get back into this game. Our girls decided that they were."
With Ricketts facing foul trouble for much of the second half, Texada assumed control and scored 15 of her game-high 21 points over the final two quarters.
"Coach told me that I was our best player and I had to step up and not fold when my shot wasn't falling," Texada said. "I felt like I was rushing the game in the first half; I was trying too hard to make the game come to me and not relaxing.
"Once we all finally did that, things started to go in left and right."
Adding four steals, Texada scored nine points in the third quarter alone, making a 3-pointer for a 19-18 Lady Cardinals' lead with 4:37 left and a slashing layup for a 21-20 edge 30 seconds later.
The Lady Warriors answered each Texada warning shot as part of a third that featured seven lead changes. The last one belonged to John Paul though as a partially blocked trey from Texada fell into the arms of senior Kelsey Sweeney, who beat the buzzer with a layup for a 31-30 lead after three.
"We finally got control of the tempo," Martin said. "I think that was definitely to our advantage and we were taking and hitting good shots in the second half."
DeAngelis and Sweeney played pivotal parts in that, respectively scoring 10 and eight points and grabbing a hoard of rebounds down the stretch. Ricketts added seven points, six boards and three blocks in the win as John Paul -- making its third straight trip to state -- assured the third time was indeed the charm in its quest for the program's first state championship.
Texada, Sweeney and Ricketts earned spots on the all-tournament team.
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