On the road in a hostile environment and against a team they know they’ll be competing with for a District 13-6A playoff spot, the Conroe Tigers held a seven point lead early in the fourth quarter.
But with over a minute left, Oak Ridge was on top and the Tigers lost their senior point guard for the rest of the game after some hard contact on the far sideline.
Oak Ridge won for the fifth straight time over Conroe, 37-32, Tuesday night
The War Eagles (9-8, 4-1) remain near the top of the league standings after the 15-5 run in the fourth quarter captured the win.
Conroe (8-7, 1-3) has now dropped three district games by a combined 12 points.
It’s always been close against Oak Ridge in recent years as the War Eagles won last year’s meetings by a combined seven points with one coming in overtime.
The district hill just got a little higher for the Tigers.
“We were 12-of-50,” Conroe coach Tamisha Houston said of the team’s field goal shooting. “We are not going to win games turning it over and not scoring. We were 5-of-14 from the free-throw line. If you can’t do those things, there’s no play that I can call, there’s no defense that I can call that’s going to help us win those games if we can’t score and take care of ball.”
Syanarea Reece, who came in averaging 11.5 points per game for the War Eagles, propelled Oak Ridge with 11 of her game-high 13 points in the second half. She made four field goals in the fourth quarter to help her team overtake Conroe.
With it tied at halftime, Conroe senior point guard had a solid stretch with two field goals and a couple free throws made to help the Tigers to a 27-22 lead after three quarters.
Conroe junior Anastachsa McGowen made it 29-22 at the 7:36 mark underneath the hoop, but the Tigers were held scoreless until a game-tying jumper by sophomore Maliyah Harrison at the 3:10 mark.
Down 35-31, Sneed exited the game after some hard contact and a foul and didn’t return.
“She’s our motor,” Houston said. “We go how she goes. Those are things we expect from her every game. Her energy. Her effort. Her athleticism and running the floor. But we can’t be dependent on her.”
Junior Riley Gross split a pair of free throws with 57.7 left to make it a three-point game, but Conroe got no closer.
“Turnovers,” Houston said of the big picture of this loss. “We had 14 turnovers at halftime and we ended the game with 21. We talked about turnovers before the game. We talked about turnovers at halftime.
It was another tight contest between the Tigers and War Eagles.
Conroe had a slim two-point lead after the first quarter and the teams combined on 10 points in the second quarter for a 15-15 tie at the break.
The Tigers were aggressive on defense with 10 takeaways, but they struggled at the net to take advantage. Conroe shot 5-for-17 in the first quarter.
It didn’t miss as many field goal attempts in the the second quarter, but an 0-for-6 stretch at the line on three consecutive trips cost the Tigers a chance to go up at halftime.
Harrison had eight points, sophomore Carly Booth had seven, Gross and Sneed had six points each.
Conroe got going offensively when Sneed really started exerting speed and ability to get to the hoop and create scoring opportunities. Houston hinted we could see more of that in the future.
“A lot of times, we don’t expect her to shoot it,” Houston said of the three-sport star and Texas softball recruit. “But I’m going to have a conversation with her that’s she’s going to have to take those shots. Make or miss. She works entirely too hard out there just to be a facilitator.”
Oak Ridge is in a good position in the district standings with just a loss to College Park so far. The War Eagles travel to The Woodlands Friday night.
Conroe has some ground make up and will start Friday night as well at last-place Cleveland. The Tigers’ lone district win so far came Nov. 26 against New Caney. Conroe had won three of its last five games.
Conroe’s Maliyah Harrison and Anastacha McGowen go for a loose ball against Oak Ridge on Dec. 10, 2024. (Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
