Nazareth, Claude advance to Region I-1A girls championship
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LEVELLAND — Size was the difference in Friday night's Region I-1A semifinals of the girls basketball playoffs in the Texan Dome.
Nazareth pounded the ball inside against Whiteface to come away with a 47-39 victory. It took Claude a bit longer to use its height, eventually outlasting Borden County 56-52 in a comeback win.
The Swiftettes (28-9) and Lady Mustangs (23-10) are scheduled to play in the region championship game at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Looking to avenge last year's setback in the region semifinals, Nazareth stuck with its formula of an inside-out game against the much smaller Whiteface. Brooklyn Birkenfeld was the beneficiary of that focus as the sophomore went for a game-high 19 points for the Swiftettes.
"Our bigs, they've carried us all year," Nazareth head coach Eric Schilling said. "That's something that's been really nice this year even with our guard play. If you can rely on your posts we know that, first of all, you got to stop them inside and then if they do, usually they're gonna be kick-outs and with the shooters that we have, it's usually a good combo for us."
Nazareth hit just one 3-pointer in the game and attempted very few, forcing the Lady Antelopes to collapse on the paint, which was often a step slow. Whiteface head coach Gary Simmons said some of his team's struggles can be boiled down to experience.
"Anytime you see that Nazareth warmup shirt, it's going to be intimidating," Simmons said. "We tried to overcome it. We played them two years ago and they completely blew us out but I think it was a lot closer than the score was."
Kenzie White proved to be a big problem for the Claude defense in the first half of the second semifinal. The Borden County junior guard had 21 points at intermission in leading the Lady Coyotes to an eight-point cushion. That lead swelled to 12 early in the third quarter before the Lady Mustangs started to slow her down.
From there, it was the inside attack of 6-foot-1 Andi Holland and the 5-foot-11 Bobbie Fouquet that brought Claude the lead late in the first quarter. Borden County attempted to make a comeback of its own but couldn't get by the length of the opposition.
White had just six points in the second half for a game-high 27. Four players scored in double figures for Claude, led by Holland's 17 to go with 16 points from Alexis Eddelman.
Region I-1A Girls Basketball Semifinals
Game 1: Nazareth 47, Whiteface 39
Nazareth 16 10 14 7 — 47
Whiteface 17 3 10 9 — 39
Nazareth (28-9) — Presley Wheeler 6, Iris Schilderink 12, Brooklyn Birkenfeld 19, Tatum Peterson 5, Caroline Myrick 3, Chloe Birkenfeld 2.
Whiteface (29-5) — Emma Ayers 7, Allison Martha 21, Jaedyn Rector 7, Tymmyah Olenga 4.
Game 2: Claude 56, Borden County 52
Claude 11 13 11 21 — 56
Borden County 20 12 9 11 — 52
Claude (23-10) — Alexis Eddleman 16, Andi Holland 17, Layla Godfrey 10, Bobbie Fouquet 13.
Borden County (31-6) — Brette Kaite Behrens 6, Tatum Runge 8, Kenzie White 27, Kenlei Estes 8, Tynslee Horton 1.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Nazareth, Claude advance to Region I-1A girls championship
