No. 1 Wall Faces Rematch With No. 6 Paradise in State Semifinals

WALL, TX — The No. 1-ranked Wall Lady Hawks have taken down No. 2 Coahoma and No. 3 Idalou in the last two rounds of the playoffs to reach the state semifinals.

That doesn’t mean the path to the state championship is cleared just yet.

Wall (35-3) faces another formidable obstacle against No. 6 Paradise (33-4) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Comanche with a trip to the state final on the line.

It’s a rematch from their meeting Dec. 30 at the Championship Basketball Tournament in Saginaw when Wall earned an 18-point win in a 55-37 decision.

Neither team has lost since that tournament. Wall has reeled off 14 wins in a row, while Paradise has claimed 15 straight victories.

While the win over Paradise should give Wall some confidence, it’s worth noting that this is the Lady Hawks’ first trip to the state semifinals since 2019, while the Lady Panthers reached the state final last year, so they do have the edge in playoff experience.

Paradise is led by head coach Michael Barnes, who may be a familiar name to West Texas fans as he previously coached at three nearby schools — Christoval, Miles and Ballinger.

Barnes’ wife, Nicole, is also a coach and a native of another area town, Bronte.

Barnes was hired at Paradise in 2024 and has helped elevate the program from a second-round playoff exit a year earlier to back-to-back trips to the state semifinals.

Last year was the Lady Panthers’ first trip to the state semis. Wall, meanwhile, has reached this round eight times in its history. The Lady Hawks won state titles in 2014 and ‘16.

By its lofty standards, Wall had been in a bit of a drought in recent years, which included a second-round playoff loss last season in head coach Silas Crisler’s first season with the team.

This year, the Lady Hawks took off and have been ranked No. 1 for much of the season after beginning the season at No. 22. They’ve knocked off 10 state-ranked teams, and their only losses were to the top three teams in Class 4A — Decatur, Canyon and Brock.

Paradise has three wins over state-ranked teams, and the Lady Panthers’ four losses were all to Top 25 competition, including Collinsville (No. 9 in 2A), Chireno (No. 8 in 2A) and Seminole (No. 10 in 4A).

They haven’t seen a ranked team during their playoff run, and all four wins have been by 23 points or more.

The winner of this game will advance to the Class 3A Division II state final at 1 p.m. Friday, March 6, at the Alamodome in San Antonio. They'll face either No. 19 Jourdanton (32-9) or No. 24 Central Heights (31-5).