MERKEL ― After a dominant regular season, the Eula Lady Pirates girls basketball team quickly found themselves on the ropes just a few minutes into postseason play.
Three minutes into the first quarter, the Westbrook Lady Wildcats had jumped out in front and seized a quick 13-6 lead over the Lady Pirates.
But with their backs against the wall early on in their bi-district playoff battle against Westbrook, Eula’s veteran core sparked a remarkable run.
Led by seniors Emma Damron, Kamryn Franklin and Addison Goodman led the charge, as the Lady Pirates used a suffocating full-court defense and lights-out 3-point shooting to close the first half on a 33-18 run.
Eula held onto the momentum and never gave it back, as the Lady Pirates rolled to a 52-38 comeback win against Westbrook in the bi-district round of the Class 1A Division I UIL Girls Basketball Playoffs last Monday, Feb. 16, at Merkel High School.
“They definitely threw the first punch, and we had preached we had got to throw the first punch,” Eula head coach Josh Fostel said. “But they came out in a 1-3-1 zone. We hadn’t seen a lot of it this year, and it took us a little bit to adjust. And when teams do that, we know that you’re going to get some good looks. We moved the ball really well and got some good looks.”
“It was definitely a little scary,” Franklin added. “I definitely felt my heart drop just because of being a senior and how our season could have ended, but I definitely felt like we could always get the job done. We’ve worked for it so much that it’s our year, and we can do whatever we want whenever we take it in our hands and just really work for it.”
Eula’s recipe for success in its come-from-behind win over Westbrook was prolific 3-point shooting mixed together with a constantly shifting, but stifling defense.
Led by the veteran trio of Damron, Franklin and Goodman, the Lady Pirates sank 12 3-pointers to account for more than half of the squad’s offensive production.
Goodman and junior Reagan Barr each tallied nine points, while Damron and Franklin ― who drilled a game-high five 3-pointers ― both finished with 17 points each.
“We were just really skipping the ball and moving the ball around,” Franklin said. “And then I think just having our other players come in off the bench, really know what to do and just get the job done. We’ve been working for this all year.”
“I got three seniors that played six playoff games last year, and boy, did they step up,” Fostel added. “They hit big shots. And it just seemed like every time they tried to crawl back in the game, one of those seniors would make a big shot. But at 13-6, I was concerned.”
On the defensive end of the floor, the Lady Pirates shifted back and forth between full-court and half-court sets and switched between zone and man-to-man schemes.
The different looks kept the Lady Wildcats off balance, chasing their shooters away from the 3-point line while also sealing off passing lanes into the paint.
The Lady Pirates’ stout defense limited Westbrook’s offense to five made shot attempts over a 16-minute period of game time that stretched from the end of the first quarter to the start of the fourth.
“When we’re shooting the ball well, it’s tough to defend,” Fostel said. “They were also really trying to get it to (junior center Raenee) Rich inside, and she’s so good that you just know against them that it’s going to be hard to get stuff at the rim, unless you turn them over once they set it up. But bottom line, you got to hit shots. And luckily, we did tonight.”
The Lady Pirates picked up right where they left off in the area round, steamrolling Hamlin en route to a 58-28 win in the area round of the 1A DI playoffs.
The pair of playoff victories helped Eula improve to 35-2 overall this season. The Lady Pirates are also 71-5 since the start of last season, when they made a run all the way to the 1A DI UIL State Championship.
After winning a regional title as sophomores in 2024 and then advancing to the state title game as juniors, Franklin and her fellow senior teammates are ready to take the final step together and take Eula to the top of the Texas high school basketball world.
“We’ve been playing together for like six or seven years, and we’ve just been like (in sync). Our chemistry with the whole team is good, even the girls that have just come up,” Franklin said. “When you’re being part of such a small, small school, it’s just like the chemistry is always there. We’ve always been great friends. There’s never a low moment with all of us, and we always know just what we need to do.”
Fostel believes the Lady Pirates’ ample playoff experience and their experience against one of the Big Country’s toughest district and non-district schedules have set Eula up for success and another deep postseason run.
A hard-fought victory against a 25-9 Westbrook squad in the bi-district round just added another signature win to the Lady Pirates’ stellar resume.
“We had four players on the court a majority of the night that played all the way to a state championship game last year. And our route is just like it was last year. There’s no easy ones,” Fostel said.
“Westbrook should be a team that wins a playoff game, and it was the same way last year. I mean, we won by three points in the first round and then played all the way to state. I’m happy for our kids, but (Westbrook) should be a team that’s at a regional tournament or something like that, absolutely. But I think our experience, because the route was so tough last year, just kind of carried us.”
The Eula (35-2) will return to action when the Lady Pirates take on the Garden City Lady Bearkats (27-6) in the regional semifinals of the 1A DI UIL playoffs at 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23, at Colorado City High School.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Eula’s sharpshooting, dominant defense fueling 1A DI playoff run
Reporting by Andrew McCulloch, Abilene Reporter-News / Abilene Reporter-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
