UIL State Championship 6A Top Performers

The stage was set for a couple of Texas squads, undefeated <strong>Cy Creek</strong> vs technically undefeated<strong> Desoto</strong> who had a loss to a team from Oklahoma by 4 and 2-0 loss by way of a forfeit yet I knew this would be a tough game, Desoto plays in season after season, one of, if not the toughest district in Texas and probably the toughest region year after year so I knew they were battled tested and fired up in spite of having a couple of their starters, juniors <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="65913" first="Michayla" last="Gatewood"]</strong> and<strong> [player_tooltip player_id="96915" first="Jamia" last="Harris"]</strong>, out with ACL injuries so let me add they’ve already committed to T<strong>exas Tech</strong> so Desoto will be the team to beat next year as well after their 53-37 victory Cy Creek was led by one of the best backcourts of this era in Texas, seniors<strong> [player_tooltip player_id="97622" first="Kyndall" last="Hunter"]</strong> and<strong> [player_tooltip player_id="65878" first="Rori" last="Harmon"]</strong>, both signed with the <strong>University Of Texas</strong>, both chosen to the <strong>McDonald’s All American</strong> team yet the announcers kept mentioning that along with Desoto didn’t have any, maybe someone will do a better job of giving them a script so they’ll know that award goes to seniors which is why I sat alone at the games to not hear nonsense so this was hard watching games via MEMOREX, seniors<strong> [player_tooltip player_id="97930" first="Taylor" last="Jackson"]</strong> and<strong> 6’2 Ri’yah Francis</strong> scored early for the Cougars to help them to a 12-6 <strong>Ariyanna Hines-5’7 G senior</strong>, dropped a couple of deep ones in the first half for Desoto and played some solid defense, so did the BCS junior frontcourt of <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="65910" first="Amina" last="Muhammad"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135360" first="Tionna" last="Herron"]</strong>, that’s 6’4 and 6’5, Herron, a <strong>University of Kentucky</strong> commit, helped close out their 19-5 run in the second quarter with a layup to take the lead at the half, 27-24 while back to back layups in the third from Muhammad stretched the lead to 10. Here are some other Top Performers <img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-231254 aligncenter" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/11/DSC_0262-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> <strong>Cy Creek</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="97622" first="Kyndall" last="Hunter"]</strong> Hunter led all scorers with 17 points, watching her over the years developing one of the best pull-up jumpers in the state has been a treat and her attacking the rim, playing the passing lane, and hard-nosed defense are some of the reasons they made it <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="65878" first="Rori" last="Harmon"]</strong> Harmon handling the ball through traffic, throwing blazing passes on the money while directing her team vocally over the years has been a treat and when you make those around you better, that’s huge so with her falling just short of a double-double. 8 points 11 rebounds, she and Hunter will take the show on the road to the Big 12 <strong>Desoto</strong> <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-263265" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/DSC_0052-1-crop-640x421-1615859434-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="22370" first="Kendall" last="Brown"]</strong> Brown led her team with 12 points yet has been the glue throughout the latter part of the season with the mentality of "I don’t care who you are" which is definitely THROWBACK but the University Of Houston signee also dropped off 4 assists not to leave out applying pressure on the defensive end <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="65914" first="Sa’Myah" last="Smith"]</strong> Smith was named MVP and after coming back from a knee injury, this was definitely special as she is one of those players with the potential to control a game on both ends and she’s also the third player from that BCS frontline I spoke about earlier and at 6’4 ..... <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-263267" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/DSC_0015-crop-640x421-1615859793-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="65912" first="Ayanna" last="Thompson"]</strong> Thompson just does so many things you may not notice unless you’re an expert but she makes big plays and plays that lead to big plays but her "thinking the game" ability to "score in the flow" or just "taking over when needed" all played a role in them not only getting here but winning it