UIL Basketball Playoffs: Bishop holds off West Oso to advance to regional quarters

Milauni Williams and Jazlyn Garcia helped West Oso push the two-time Class 3A state semifinalist Bishop girls to the brink on Friday in the area round of the girls high school basketball playoffs at Tuloso-Midway High School.

But the experienced Badgers made just enough plays to hold on for a 52-48 win to survive and advance to face Ingleside in the regional quarterfinals at a date, place and time to be determined.

The Bears outscored Bishop 27-19 in the fourth quarter, nearly erasing a 12-point deficit (33-21) entering the final eight minutes.

Williams scored 13 of her 19 points in the final quarter to ignite the West Oso comeback.

In a quick stretch early in the fourth she hit two 3-pointers and a three-point play to pull the Bears within 41-34.

"She was a big factor because she stayed calm," West Oso coach Quincy Sims said. "She didn't get rattled and continued to be a strong leader for our team. She led as a sophomore. To see a sophomore leading the group like that ... she is strong."

But Ava Salinas, Logan Borchardt and Marlene Ledezma did enough down the stretch to keep West Oso from completely overtaking the Badgers amid a racous atmosphere at T-M.

"We had a few mental breakdowns, but we pulled ourselves together, talked to each other as a team and worked through our differences," Salinas said. "We just pulled it out."

Salinas led Bishop with 18 points, while Ledezma added 13 and Borchardt scored eight. Salinas hit a monster shot with less than one minute to go, to push the Badgers lead back to four.

West Oso pulled within two twice in the final seconds and forced a turnover with a chance to square the game in the waning seconds but Williams' shot was off the mark and Malaigha Sweets was called for a travel as she corralled the offensive rebound to end the comeback.

Friday's highlights

The game opened as a low-scoring defensive battle that Bishop led 5-2 after one quarter.

Ledezma battled inside, scoring six points in the second quarter, helping Bishop go on an 11-0 charge that helped the Badgers create separation and a 22-10 advantage at the break.

The fourth quarter saw Williams and Salinas go back and forth for their teams with Isabella Davis and Garcia adding to the Bears charge with 3-point shooting. West Oso connected for five triples in the fourth quarter, pushing up their pressure up the court to create turnovers as the Bears rallied.

Friday's stars

Williams scored 16 points and had eight rebounds to lead West Oso, with Garcia adding nine as Bishop focused on limiting the Bears in the post.

Ledezma notched a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds for Bishop and Salinas seemingly had an answer every time West Oso put together a charge in the first three quarters, totaling 18 points to lead the Badgers.

What the coaches said

Bishop coach Sherry Luna on the Badgers strategy: "They stuck to our defensive plan. The defense stopped their post game. If you watched their last six games, defensively, we knew we had to stop their two bigs. Hats off to their outside shooters because they did a helluva job shooting the 3-point shot. They were on fire.

"My girls never stopped working. They want to prove everyone wrong. We wanted to be a team that you had to watch out for in Class 4A too. It doesn't matter 3A or 4A , we are going to work our butt off to do what we need to do."

West Oso coach Quincy Sims on his team's success from long range: "Our game plan was to try to beat them up on the inside and then kick out. They were sagging in the paint to help out the post, which opened up the outside.

"Between the JV and the sophomores on the team, I am excited about the future at Oso. We had another freshman that was hurt. It was a young squad and we will continue to keep the schedule hard so we can get back here."

What the players said

Bishop's Ava Salinas on how the challenges that the team has faced all season helped on Friday: "We proved everybody wrong coming into this district. Everybody thought we weren't going to be the best, but we're working it through and we're getting it."

Bishop's Marlene Ledezma on how the experience from two state tournament runs has paid off for the team: "With all the experience last year from state and pre-district when we played Class 5A and 6A schools, moving up to Class 4A was no big deal for us. We have a real good team, we have a good connection and we know how all of us play and I think that is what is going to pull us through to the end."

Up next

Bishop vs. Ingleside in a Class 4A regional quarterfinal matchup, TBA.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Bishop girls hold off West Oso to advance to regional quarterfinals