Lake Belton Ends LG Girls’ Season
ROCKDALE – Lake Belton has really grown up.
Last year La Grange bounced Lake Belton (which was in its first year as a school) from the first round of the girls basketball playoffs, winning by 28 points.
But Tuesday in a postseason rematch, it was Lake Belton (which is moving up to 5A next year) that got revenge, beating the Lady Leps 59-43.
“Youth played a big part in the game last year, they were just freshmen and sophomores,” La Grange head coach Heath Golan said. “I knew coming into this one that it was going to be tough. It was a match-up I was worried about.”
Lake Belton improves to 21- 10 and advances to face Pflugerville Conally.
The district champ La Grange girls end their season with a 28-8 record.
“I told the girls to be proud of what they accomplished – 28 wins with five new girls on the varsity,” Golan said. “Appreciate what you’ve done because it doesn’t come along very often.”
But the Broncos were a little better, and got this win on the strength of their speed and athleticism.
“They had a really good defense and they were as fast as us, and we hadn’t faced many teams that were as fast as us,” said La Grange senior Aysia Grant, who scored 16 of her team-high 20 points in the first half, but was limited by a suffocating defensive effort by Lake Belton’s Ella Wagenaar after halftime.
“They were just quicker and more aggressive,” said La Grange junior Camille Gonzalez. “They seemed to have really done their homework and knew how we wanted to play.”
With Grant leading the way for La Grange, the lead changed hands several times in the first half before Lake Belton took a 29-25 lead at halftime.
The Lady Leps rallied after the break to score six answered points to re-take the lead 31-29.
Lake Belton went on an 11-2 run to close the third quarter and never trailed again.
No player besides Grant scored in double figures for La Grange, while a trio of Lake Belton players did, led by Alanaha Thompson, who scored 17.
Junior Keslyn Davis scored nine for La Grange.
Tuesday’s loss ends the career of three La Grange seniors – Grant, Lyric Sampson and Makenna Mitchell.
“They are all going to be hard to replace,” Golan said.
“They were all special in their own way,” Davis said. “Makenna, she gives it her all, she’d dive after balls even if it meant busting her head open like she did against Giddings. Lyric, when she would get hot, she could score so many points for us, and Aysia was just so athletic and really carried us at times. It’s going to hurt losing all three of them next year.”
Grant, in particular leaves a void after a varsity career that spanned all four years of high school. She departs among the program’s all-time leaders in wins and points.
“She’s going to have opportunities to continue to play (in college),” Golan said. “I know it’s hard to think about that now, but her career is not over.”
“My teammates, that’s all I can think about, not the games that we won or lost,” Grant said. “That’s what I’ll remember.”
Feb. 15
Lake Belton girls 59, La Grange 43
La Grange 14 11 10 8 – 43
Lake Belton 12 17 13 17 – 59
LG scoring: Aysia Grant 20, Keslyn Davis 9, Tori Harold 4, Camille Gonzalez 4, Alicia Tisdell 2, Katelyn Allen 2, Lyric Sampson 2.
Record: LG is 28-8. Lake Belton is 21-10.