Christoval Girls Blitz Coleman for Bi-District Playoff Win

SAN ANGELO, TX — The Christoval Lady Cougars wanted to impose their defensive will on Coleman in their first-round playoff game Monday.

With 16 steals in the first half, it’s safe to say they accomplished that goal.

The No. 21-ranked Lady Cougars raced out to a 24-point lead by halftime and cruised to a 66-29 win to open their run in the Class 2A Division II playoffs.

Christoval improved to 28-6 and advances to play No. 5 Whiteface (32-2) later this week in the area round. It’s a rematch of last year’s second-round playoff game that Christoval won 27-25.

The Lady Cougars hit the ground running Monday, led by a relentless defense that finished with 22 steals.

“That’s our strong suit,” Christoval first-year head coach Randy Henderson said. “We’ve had several games this year with 25 or 30 steals for the game, and we thought that’d be key, because not a lot of teams face the kind of speed and quickness and pressure that we have.

“Now as you move in the playoffs, that becomes less and less effective, because the teams get better and they’ve seen something like that. But we thought that’d be key tonight, because they had size on us.”

Essence Bogs led Christoval’s defense with five steals, while Keira Bogs and Sophia Nemec each had four steals.

Nemec led all scorers with 17 points, including three 3-pointers. Jae Thompson added 13 points and three steals.

In all, 10 Lady Cougars scored in a balanced effort.

It was a disappointing end to the season for Coleman, which finished as the runner-up out of a difficult District 8-2A. The Bluekatts overcame a 1-6 start to the year to finish with a record of 12-15. 

It was the second consecutive year they drew a Top 25 team in the first round of the playoffs.

Coleman was led Monday by Karley Hale, who had nine points, nine rebounds, a steal and a block.

Christoval graduated two players from last season that signed with colleges — Hallee Hughes (Angelo State) and Madyson George (Central Christian College of Kansas).

Despite those significant losses, the Lady Cougars have come right back to put together another strong season, which included the District 7-2A title.

“What I wanted to establish with this group was them playing hard and playing with effort every day, not that they didn’t in the past, because I know they were very successful. But with a new group and just a handful of returners, I wanted to be sure we put a lot of pressure on people and used our strengths, which is team speed,” Henderson said.

“They’ve been coached well previously. Being able to anticipate and rotate, they already had a pretty good grasp on that. So I just took it and used it, and we’ve done really well.”

Christoval 66, Coleman 29

Coleman   7   8   9   5 — 29

Christoval   20   19   16   11 — 66

COLEMAN — Savannah Hurtado 2, Brynley Rae 1, Karley Hale 9, Lexi Foster 7, Elina Flores 3, Lily Norris 7.

CHRISTOVAL — Kinley Weatherman 2, Keira Bogs 3, Aylor Crain 3, Hannah Maier 5, Jae Thomason 13, Kaelyn Crain 6, Essence Bogs 6, Sophia Nemec 17, Ryanna Castillo 5, Landry Hamm 6.