Porter Helps Provide Ram Power

Many first round games are usually lopsided however you do have the occasional upsets on paper, which doesn’t necessarily mean that a particular team seeded higher was better, only that their district wasn’t that strong. All of District 22 teams lost their first round games and Districts 18 and 20 have only one team remaining from each however those two teams are Elsik and Bellaire and after watching both teams win their first games in such a convincing matter, they are on a collision course to meet in the third round which would also mark the third time in four seasons that has happened. Last night Elsik made it clear they are here for the long haul by defeating Cy Creek 77-47 as Crystal Porter registered a triple double with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Before that Rams vs Cardinals match-up occurs, both teams have some tougher second round opponents to deal with. Bellaire has to face the team that knocked them out last season, District 17 Cy Woods runner-up while Elsik has Cinco Ranch who haven’t advanced past the second round since the 2007-2008 season in which they made their only Region 3 Final 4 in school history, they lost to Cy Fair in the finals.

Other interesting match-ups have Seven Lakes against Cy Ranch, Cy Falls taking on a rejuvenated Katy Taylor squad and North Shore against the team who has proved to be a spoiler, Fort Bend Austin. I don’t see Hightower, Clear Springs or Creek having any trouble but you never know how things are going to turn out. Ask The Woodlands as Klein Forest, minus one of their starters, gave the Highlanders all they could handle last night trailing by only 3 after the third quarter and only 6 with a little over two minutes remaining. You can also ask Foster who made it to the Elite 8 last season and with the addition of Alex Laperoyle, a Final 4 was withing reach however the district champion lost to fourth place Friendswood in overtime. With Elsik’s” Big Three” clicking the way they did, Akunna Elonu added 14 points while Jasmine Ocanas controlled not only the tempo but set her teammates up very nicely, another bright spot had to be D’Jue Vaden who scored 16 points. Vaden has given the Rams another three point shooting threat which opens the door on the inside for Porter and Elonu, well actually both can score from all over the floor as Porter added a three pointer herself on the night. Ikpeaku Iwobi scored 12 points for Cy Creek while Dani Fielder scored her 14 points on an assortment of jumpers but the defending Region 3   Champions are on a mission this season while showing everyone that last season was no fluke. Anyway this time next week, we will actually know who will be playing at Campbell Center and the debate on who will battle Clear Springs for the 2013 region title will begin