After an impressive regular season and playoff run, the Eula Lady Pirates are set to represent the Big Country at the 2025-26 UIL Girls Basketball State Championships this week.
Eula (36-2) will tip off the Class 1A Division I UIL State Championship game against the Broaddus Lady Bulldogs (35-5) at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 5, at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Here are the key storylines to know and what to watch for during the Lady Pirates’ matchup against Broaddus in the 1A DI UIL Girls Basketball State Championship game:
CAN THE LADY PIRATES GET REVENGE IN A STATE TITLE GAME REMATCH?
Eula is making its fourth trip in program history to the UIL Girls Basketball State Tournament. The Lady Pirates are making their second straight trip to the 1A DI UIL State Championship game after coming up short in a — loss to Broaddus last year.
Eula also previously reached the state tournament in 1953 and 1989.
The Lady Pirates will be looking for both revenge and their first girls basketball state title in school history.
Eula’s four seniors — Emma Damron, Addison Goodman, Kylee Hyer and Kamryn Franklin — have racked up a 16-3 playoff record in four seasons together in a Lady Pirates’ uniform.
If the Lady Pirates can get revenge and beat Broaddus in the 1A DI state title game, it would represent the first UIL girls basketball state championship for a Big Country-area school since Abilene Wylie defeated Celina 59-45 to win the Class 3A UIL State Championship in 2012.
EULA’S BIGGEST STRENGTHS
Beyond the Lady Pirates’ bevy of big-game experience and veteran impact players, Eula’s greatest strengths lay in its versatility on both ends of the floor.
Defensively, the Lady Pirates are fast and athletic enough to switch defensive assignments frequently and shift in and out of different defensive looks from zone schemes and full-court man-to-man defense to half-court traps and full-court presses.
The Lady Pirates’ single biggest strength on the defensive end, though, is their ability to adapt to whatever their opponents throw at them.
Eula showed this during their state semifinal win over Spur, when the Lady Pirates turned a halftime deficit into a massive fourth-quarter lead by making adjustments on the fly throughout the second half that left the Spurettes unable to make a bucket from the floor for more than 12 minutes.
That defensive intensity often sparks fastbreak scoring opportunities for the Lady Pirates’ offense too, which is how they found their rhythm offensively against Spur during a sluggish defensive start to the state semifinals.
But the Lady Pirates have shown that they can burn good teams offensively via their fastbreak attack, working the ball inside on the low post, feeding sharpshooters beyond the 3-point line and slashing to the bucket on pick-and-roll actions.
Eula has a lot of different ways to score and a lot of elite scorers offensively. Four different players — junior Reagan Barr, Damron, Goodman and Franklin — have led the Lady Pirates in scoring during their five-game playoff run.
BROADDUS’ BIGGEST STRENGTHS
The Lady Bulldogs might be the most balanced Texas girls high school basketball team in Class 1A, with an elite defense and an explosive offense.
Broaddus (35-5) secured several marquee wins against Lufkin, Bullard, Huntington, Douglass and Texarkana Liberty-Eylau after playing one of East Texas’ toughest non-district schedules.
The Lady Bulldogs then claimed a district championship and racked up a 17-game winning streak that stretches back to the beginning of January 2026.
During district play and their five-game postseason run, Broaddus has scored 81.7 points per game while holding their opponents to an average of 24.7 points per game defensively.
One of the reasons for the Lady Bulldogs massive success on both ends of the floor is their combination of size, speed, length and athleticism that makes them a difficult team to defend, as well as a difficult defense to score against.
Nine out of the 10 players on Broaddus’ roster are 5-foot-9 or taller, making the Lady Bulldogs one of the tallest teams on average at the UIL Girls Basketball State Tournament.
That extra size and length will give the Lady Bulldogs a big boost in the rebounding battle and closing out on the Lady Pirates’ shooters.
KEYS TO VICTORY: CONTROL 3-POINT LINE, WIN BATTLE FOR BOARDS
Eula’s biggest keys to victory will be winning the battle on the boards and establishing an offensive presence around the 3-point line against Broaddus.
The Lady Pirates have been at their best offensively this postseason when they can create open looks for their 3-point shooters.
That was one of Eula’s greatest challenges in last year’s state championship game matchup against Broaddus, as the Lady Bulldogs used their significant size advantage to close out on the Lady Pirates’ 3-point shooters more quickly and limit their range.
The Lady Bulldogs’ size advantage will also factor into the rebounding battle heavily, a battle that the Lady Pirates will need to win to come out on top.
Eula will struggle to keep Broaddus’ offense in check if they can’t limit the Lady Bulldogs’ offensive rebounding opportunities.
An edge in the rebounding battle would also give Eula a significant leg up when it comes to dictating the game tempo, stretching the Lady Bulldogs in transition for fastbreak scoring opportunities where possible.
HOW EULA EARNED RETURN TRIP TO UIL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
The Lady Pirates started the 2025-26 Texas girls high school basketball season on a surreal 25-game winning streak.
Eula earned signature non-district wins against many of the Big Country’s best girls basketball teams including Cisco, Jim Ned, Haskell and May.
Then the Lady Pirates completed a 4-2 run in the Lone Star State’s toughest 1A district with wins over Baird and Strawn and a pair of one-point and four-point losses to Gordon in district play.
That catapulted the Lady Pirates into the postseason with plenty of momentum. Eula has outscored its playoff opponents by an average of 16.2 points per game so far this postseason.
Bi-district playoffs – 52-38 win over Westbrook
Area playoffs – 58-28 win over Hamlin
Regional semifinals – 46-37 win over Garden City
Region II-1A DI Finals – 58-44 win over Hermleigh
1A DI UIL State Semifinals – 48-34 win over Spur
2025-26 EULA LADY PIRATES ROSTER
*indicates starting lineup
Senior guard Emma Damron (#2)*
Senior guard Kamryn Franklin (#3)*
Junior forward Reagan Barr (#4)*
Junior forward Hannah Cranfill (#10)
Freshman guard Haiden Cauthen (#12)
Senior guard Addison Goodman (#13)*
Junior forward Cory Pilgrim (#14)
Sophomore guard Tinsley Robinson (#15)
Senior post Kylee Hyer (#21)*
Junior guard Raelee Rister (#23)
Sophomore guard Annabelle Baze (#24)
Freshman guard Maribel Ramirez (#25)
Head coach: Josh Fostel
Assistant coaches: Cutter Smith, Darren Carson, Jayton Thompson
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: What to Watch: Eula-Broaddus in 1ADI Girls Basketball State Title Game
Reporting by Andrew McCulloch, Abilene Reporter-News / Abilene Reporter-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
