Cobwebs are usually more synonymous to Halloween than Christmas. It took the Conroe Tigers a little bit of time to knock theirs off on on a cloudy and cold Saturday.
Having not played in 11 days, Conroe came out sluggish offensively in the opener of the Lady Tigers Booster Hoops in the morning. By the late afternoon, the Tigers were firing on all cylinders.
Conroe fell 45-28 to Cypress Ranch before beating Cy-Fair 34-19 in the early afternoon and then throttled Brazosport 58-21 as dinner time approached to conclude the one-day basketball marathon with a 2-1 record.
“It was great for them and I hope that’s something they can remember going into Tuesday,” Conroe coach Tamisha Houston said about ending the long day on a winning note. “Our struggle has been putting the ball in the hole. If this afternoon is what it took to see that and gain their confidence, then I’ll take it. Use this game to regain your confidence.”
Conroe (8-6) had been off since Nov. 26 – a lopsided District 13-6A win over New Caney – before finally getting back to action for its first December appearance.
Against Brazosport (4-7), Conroe led 29-6 on 13-of-18 shooting in the first quarter, surpassing its opening game offensive output and nearly the Cy-Fair game’s entire offensive production as well.
The Tigers pulled away on a 12-0 run against the Exporters, who have now lost four straight, as sophomore Maliyah Harrison sparked Conroe with 12 points. Harrison, who was added to the starting five a few weeks back, added another bucket in the third quarter to total 14 for a game-high.
“It’s good for her,” Houston said. “Her being able to score it, her being able to knock down those shots. I think it’ll be good for her confidence going forward. Hopefully she’ll be somebody we can depend on in crunch time when we need to knock something down. I think she’s making a case for herself as to why she deserves to stay in the starting lineup.”
By halftime, it was 48-12 as the dusk started setting on a long day of basketball.
The second half featured a turbo clock and the game wrapped up quickly with Conroe adding 10 more points over the final 16 minutes.
Eleven different Tigers produced points against Brazosport. Riley Gross finished with eight points, Damiri Anderson added seven, Saterria Poehlein had six while Anatascha McGowen and Ireahanna Roach each had four apiece.
In the opener played at 9 a.m., Conroe’s sluggish middle quarters set it back against Cy Ranch.
The Tigers scored five points in the second quarter to trail 22-14 at halftime and then mustered just two points in the third.
Kayleigh Phillips scored six of her team-high eight points in the fourth quarter. Gross added seven points while Alisa Sneed had four.
“I never have to question the girls’ effort,” Houston said. “We just have to transfer that effort into productivity. I’m still trying to figure out how to do that.”
Against Cy-Fair, Sneed led with 10 points, Gross had seven and Carly Boothe had five points.
Conroe led the Bobcats to two points in the second quarter, but only led 14-10 at halftime. The Tigers started to get things going in the second half, which ultimately boosted them into the third and final game of the day against Brazosport. The Tigers outscored Cy-Fair 20-9 on the way to the win.
“We have to have good things happen before our confidence is up,” Houston said. “If bad things begin to happen, everybody begins to overthink, everybody begins to second-guess. I guess I don’t do a good job balancing that because I don’t understand it.”
Conroe makes the short trip down I-45 to play Oak Ridge on Tuesday as District 13-6A picks back up. It’ll be a key game between two playoff teams from the past few seasons
“It’s always hard to play over there,” Houston said. “Last year, we lost a tough one over there in overtime at the buzzer. That’s something we’re going to talk about a little bit moving forward, just us forgetting about that last game, and focus more on that we had an opportunity at the end.”
Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m.
Conroe sophomore Maliyah Harrison led the team with 14 points in the win over Brazosport on Dec. 7, 2024. (Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
