Friday Night: R3 5A semifinals and others

Cedar Park is in the driver's seat and sitting beside them is College Station after both out of town teams came in and defeated a couple of area teams, Hightower and Shadow Creek, to make it to the finals. Hightower, Shadow Creek, and Manvel are all from the same district and all made it to the Elite 8 which sort of speaks volumes on being considered as one of the toughest districts in the state but when you figure that Cedar Park is completely loaded at each position and College Station is returning almost everyone from last seasons Regional semifinal, well the stage was somewhat set for the championship game today Hightower- shot only 29% from the field and were led by <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/zaria-johnson/">Zaria Johnson</a> (Virginia) with 16 points. The ultra-athletic wing can fly to the rim from just about every angle but she and fellow BCS teammates <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/destini-lombard/">Destini Lombard</a> (LSU) and <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/taelour-purvis/">Taelour Purvis</a> (Houston) had a great season and career, Hightower, by the way, represented the region last year in the state tournament but like last seasons rep in 6A, Summer Creek, things are different this year Shadow Creek-won their district and finished the regular season ranked #4 by TABC and although they may be down, they're definitely not out as their nucleus of R'Mani Taylor (16) and Bre'Yon White (15) will return as one of the best 1-2 scoring punches in the area along with one of the areas top defensive guards, Danae Williams so be ready for SC College Station- they have a variety of players who can just go off, last game it was <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/aaliyah-collins/">Aliyah Collins</a> going off for 22, she scored 16 in this game, however, they were led by Na'layjah Johnson with 17 but the X factors would have to be Mia Rivers scoring 10 along with  Cornecia Thompson (9) and Jaeden McMillin (8) so balanced scoring from a variety of players without <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/rebekah-hailey/">Rebekah Hailey</a> having to go off is big Cedar Park- I don't even know what to write that I haven't but here you go. They have two of the top seniors in Texas, <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/hannah-wheeler/">Hannah Wheeler</a> (Incarnate Word), <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/nicole-leff/">Nicole Leff</a> (Texas State) <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/alisa-knight/">Alisa Knight</a>, one of the top juniors, <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/shelby-hayes/">Shelby Hayes</a>, one of the top sophomores and <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/gisella-maul/">Gisella Maul</a>, one of the top freshmen plus a supporting cast of talent that fills in many of the blanks so that 2 pm game is where I'll be Around the area Hardin-Jefferson advances to the regional finals in 4A and will play Fairfield at 1 pm. Hardin Jefferson is led by #BCSLock and future pro-Ashlyn Jackson, the top sophomore in Texas and one of the best players in this galaxy. They won the region last season Woodville is close enough where I don't have to stop for food or the restroom so I'm claiming them for 3A. They made it to the state finals last season undefeated but so was their opponent who finished that way. No worries, they're looking to go back and have a good shot with <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/kayla-merchant/">Kayla Merchant</a> as one of their standouts &nbsp;