GC Girls Basketball: Rice heads to Region Tournament with huge win over Mexia

Feb. 23—Rice's Lady Bulldogs continued their wild and wonderful ride through the 3A girls basketball playoffs, stunning No. 3-ranked Mexia 63-56 to move on to the Region III Tournament — a place the Rice girls have never been.

And they did it without Saniya. Well, sort of.

Saniya Burks, who leads all of Texas in scoring and is in the Top 10 in the nation, led Rice again, pouring in 41 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking three shots against the best team Rice has seen all season.

Saniya was coming off a "Believe-it-or-not performance" last Friday in the Area Round of the playoffs when she scored every point (17) for Rice in the fourth quarter while playing with four fouls to beat Teague.

But she wasn't on the court in the final minutes Tuesday.

She fouled out with 1:23 left in the game with Rice leading and left the game under an avalanche of noise from the largest crowd to show up at Corsicana's Tiger Gym in recent memory. Tiger Gym seats 2,013 and it's estimated more than 1,000 Rice fans and more than 700 from Mexia were there for the showdown.

Use your imagination and try to imagine how angry and how loud the reaction was from the Rice fans, who threw a wall of nose at the officials after losing the best player in Texas to a fifth foul.

Rice coach Antonio Burks didn't have time to think about the call. He knew his daughter wasn't hurt, and he knew he had 1:23 to nail down the victory.

"I didn't have time to worry about the foul," he said. "I had to think about how we were going to win the game.

"I knew we could win it. These girls are great," he said of the five Lady Dawgs on the court. "We just needed to take care of the ball. We found some ways to win it. I 'm so proud of these girls. I'm so proud of the way they played."

The five Lady Dawgs on the court — Aaliya Nezar, Sloan Cadena, KK Davis, Leslie Romero and, Livi Nezar — held Mexia scoreless after Saniya fouled out and kept their composure throughout the fourth quarter despite Mexia throwing everything at them.

Aaliyah Nezar had another big game for Rice, scoring 12 points, including hitting a pair of free throws in the final minute that put Mexia away. Cadena scored all five of her points in the fourth, and Davis, whose 3-pointer at the buzzer last season lifted Rice to the Kiwanis title, hit another bigger-than-life trey to give Rice a five point lead (52-47) in the fourth against Mexia.

Mexia is a bigger, stronger, faster and much more physical team than Rice and the Lady Cats shot the ball well all night, running a disciplined offense that created open lanes and drives to the basket while at the same time hurting Rice with nine 3-pointers.

Coach Burks and Saniya were from Mexia and Saniya she grew up playing with the Mexia girls in Little Dribblers and in youth leagues. They learned to play the game together. Coach Burks knew what he was up against long before Tuesday's Region Quarterfinal game.

"I've known these girls for a long time and I've never seen them shoot the ball like they did tonight," he said.

Mexia played a tough, aggressive brand of defense all night, and Saniya rarely had the time or space to breathe with two girls — and some times three — converging on her all night.

"Yeah, that's the most physical team we've played all year," Saniya said after the game. "I'm hurting right now. But I'm OK. I grew up with all those girls," she said. "When I got knocked down, they would reach down and help me get up."

It was agony for Saniya to sit out the final 1:23 of the game, but she couldn't have been happier for the Rice girls on the court and the way they played.

"They stepped it up," she said. "I was very proud of them. We're like sisters. We're family. I knew they would step it up."

It was a classic, two outstanding teams going head to head with no one giving an inch. They fought through six ties and 14 lead changes through the first three quarters, and the end of each quarter looked like it was scripted for a movie.

The first quarter ended with Saniya hitting a long 3-pointer in traffic and nailing a free throw to knot things up at 15-15.

Then Saniya made a head-shaking play just before halftime, weaving through Mexia's defense before making a stop-and-start move, splitting the final two defenders in the paint like a professional bowler picks up an impossible spare, and spinning by them before flipping the ball underhanded and kissing a shot off the glass to take a 29-28 lead.

Mexia answered with a 3-pointer to grab a 32-29 lead in the final seconds, but Saniya drove the court, pulled up in traffic and banked in another 3 at the buzzer to lift Rice to a 33-32 halftime lead.

They spent the third quarter swapping the lead for almost eight minutes until Saniya busted a long trey with 21 seconds left and cashed in with a free throw on a and-one play to give Rice a 47-44 lead. It was Saniya's fourth and final 3-pointer of the night.

But just-like-that Mexia came back and sent the Mexia fans into jubilation when Cherish Spivey hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to knot the score at 47-47 to set the stage for the fourth.

Rice took over, ripping off a five-point run to grab a 52-47 lead on a Cadena inside basket after taking a long pass from Saniya, and a huge shot from Davis, who busted a nothing-but-net 3-pointer on her only shot of the night.

Saniya hit a drive and made 4-of-4 free throws to hold off Mexia at 58-54 and Cadena hit another basket underneath after taking another long pass from Saniya, and completed the and-one play to lift Rice to a 61-54 lead.

"I felt if we could get it to a three-possession lead we would win and when we got it to 61-54 I felt really good," Burks said. "My blood pressure was really high, and it really got up there when we missed a wide-open lay-up."

The five Lady Dawgs on the court — Aaliya Nezar, Cadena, Davis, Leslie Romero and, Livi Nezar — held Mexia scoreless after Saniya fouled out and kept their composure throughout the fourth quarter despite Mexia throwing everything at them.

Rice will travel to Waco for the 3A Region III Tournament to play Kountze at 7:30 Friday night in the four-team tournament at Midway High.

Fairfield, the top-ranked 3A girls team in Texas, plays Hitchcock at 6 Friday night, and the two winners play at 1 p.m. Saturday for the Region title and the right to go to the state tournament in San Antonio.

This is the best season in Lady Bulldog history with every step over the last two weeks crossing a milestone. The Lady Dawgs are now 27-8 with a 13-game winning streak and have stolen the hearts of high school fans not only in Rice but throughout the Golden Circle — and beyond.