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The Lady Cards’ varsity basketball team have known for a while that a few things were coming to them by the end of the season. The first, was a district title. They clinched first place in the district much sooner than their final game of the regular season last week, but they officially clinched an undefeated district season following their win against Palacios on Tuesday, Feb. 7. The Lady Cards got the rest of the week and the weekend to prepare themselves for the second thing they knew had been coming: the playoffs. The Lady Cards travelled to Smithville to take on Nixon-Smiley in a game that was never very competitive as they ran out to a huge victory to claim their spot in the second round and surpass last year’s postseason run.
Vs Palacios, W, 62-26 The Lady Cards wasted no time against the opposing Sharkettes in the last game of the regular season. Columbus got one final chance to feel what it is like when their offense is rolling. They blitzed Palacios with their signature high energy attack as well as the pesky defense that has helped them become a dominant force in the district. Palacios never made the game close as the Lady Cards held control through its entirety. Karlee Mathis finished as the team’s leading scorer with 17 points.
STATE PLAYOFFS ROUND 1 Vs Nixon-Smiley, W, 78-20
Columbus must have had last year’s fi rstround exit in their minds when they hit the floor against this year’s postseason opening opponent. What followed after tip off was a stretch of the most dominating basketball that the Lady Cards have played all season. Columbus exploded for 27 points in the first while holding the Lady Mustangs to just eight points. The Lady Cards never scored less than 16 points in any of the remaining periods and did not let Nixon score more than seven points in any of the last three quarters. Columbus held the Lady Mustangs to a game-low two points in the second quarter and just three points in the third as the result of the game had basically been decided by that point.
The Lady Cards found scoring at every level but benefitted from many fast break points that came off of turnovers by the Lady Mustangs. Ally Tribe led all scorers with 17 points after a dominant performance in the paint on both offense and defense. Lead guard Treasure Upson added a larger share of the scoring load to her usual offense- organizing duties, finishing with 16 points as the team’s second-leading scorer. Karlee Mathis added 14 points and Bailey Gustus finished with 10 points as the barrage of double-digit scorers proved to be too much for the Lady Mustangs to handle.
