As Saturday wore on, the Conroe Tigers offense started to pick up.
After combining on 62 points over eight quarters against Cypress Ranch and Cy-Fair during the Lady Tigers Booster Hoops round robin, Conroe exploded for 29 points on 72 percent shooting (13-for-18) against Brazosport as sophomore guard Maliyah Harrison scored 12 of her 14 points.
The Tigers had 48 points by halftime against the Exporters and with a turbo clock in effect in the second half, Conroe won 58-21.
The trio of games were meant to be an icebreaker of sorts. The Tigers played on
Nov. 26 before Thanksgiving and had a bye last Tuesday and District 13-6A all together took the night off three days later with some teams participating in tournaments.
Despite going 2-1, the idea of Saturday was to get back in action with a major district game coming up on Tuesday.
The Tigers (8-6, 1-2) have a huge road contest at Oak Ridge (8-8, 3-1) at 6:30 p.m.
Most years, in recent history, Conroe and Oak Ridge make the playoffs. The Tigers are on a six-season streak while the War Eagles have a nine-season streak of postseason play.
Oak Ridge defeated New Caney 61-27 last Tuesday before going 1-2 at Barbers Hill shootout later in the week.
The War Eagles entered this week tied second place with The Woodlands a full game behind Grand Oaks. Their only district loss came Nov. 26 by nine points to College Park.
Oak Ridge is led by junior Jordan Daigle, who’s averaging 14.8 points per game and three rebounds shy of a double-double at 7.3 per game. The War Eagles have a double-digit second leading scorer in Synarea Reece at 11.5 points per game. Freshman Kylee Jameson is averaging 5.5 per game.
A year ago this week, Conroe fell at Oak Ridge 50-48 in overtime as the current senior scored what still stands to be her career-high with 21 points.
The Tigers then fell in a 32-27 grind the following month as Oak Ridge took the season series sweep.
Conroe’s most recent win over Oak Ridge came in January 2022 as the War Eagles have taken four straight. Three of the four wins were by five or less points.
Conroe has another road game on Friday as it takes on last-place Cleveland.
The Indians are 0-13 (according to MaxPreps) with four district losses to Oak Ridge (57-15), New Caney (45-28), Grand Oaks (86-18), and Willis (54-32) last Tuesday.
Since Cleveland moved up to Class 6A in 2022, Conroe is 4-0 against the Indians. That includes a 53-40 win last January where Riley Gross contributed nine points and six rebounds while Taylor Smith grabbed 12 boards.
Conroe also defeated Cleveland 66-35 last February with Smith putting in a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds while Gross added 11 points.
Tip-off Friday is 6:30 p.m.
Conroe senior Alisa Sneed (3) goes up for a layup last month against New Caney. (Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
