Pearland winds Lady Gander Tip-Off

Pearland has given me yet another one of my ever so prophetic sayings and hopefully you’ll enjoy this one, “it’s not who you beat, it’s when you beat them” and after I picked them as a sleeper team last season, they open the season with a 20 plus loss to Langham Creek yet they made it to the area F-4 after finishing second in district to Manvel, a team they lost to by more than 20 twice, by the way, they advanced further than Manvel did in the playoffs. This season, the Chronicle, TABC and yes me, picked them to be among the teams left standing and they lose their opener at home to Langham Creek by 10. The dust has settled and Pearland won the Lady Gander Tip-Off in Baytown defeating a couple of talented teams in Kingwood and Clear Falls in the semi’s and finals. Kingwood is led by Gabby Stanton, Brooke Jolivet and Charlotte Hodges, all GPR UTR players in the 2015 class that simply blew up over the summer. I watched Kingwood hold off a better than I expected Clear Lake team featuring another 2015 Under The Radar player I recently added, Torrie Thompson. Thompson showed she could handle the ball, see the floor, play some defense and more importantly put the ball in the basket; I’ll come back with an update after Peggy Whitley

In that same game, Kingwood’s Stanton was simply unconscious as she made an array of shots from all over the court that had not only me but several college coaches on the edge of our seats. Jolivet overcame foul trouble to simply go off in the second half, which included back to back threes to thwart Clear Lake comebacks while Hodges simply played the role of silent assassin by doing the little things that you may not notice in the box score. Kingwood advanced to semifinals against Pearland but lost by three 54-51, the Oilers defeated Clear Falls by the same score in the championship as Jasmine Butler dropped 19. Butler is another player that simply blew up over the summer as well and she, along with Laneetra Guillory and Keara Hudnall give them the second best frontline in the area behind district rival Manvel.  No Sydney Portier or Bill Cosby in attendance but last night the championship teams decided to Let’s Do It Again and Pearland came away with another win, 47-36 as Hudnall dropped 21. Hudnall will sign with McNeese State tomorrow and like fellow area Cowgirl commit Ann Nsowah, she too would be in the running for the James Brown award of one of the hardest working players I’ve seen over the past from this class