A week before Christmas, Conroe was 2-4 in District 13-6A. Each loss was as painful as the one before. The four losses were by a combined 14 points against the teams the Tigers would most likely be competing for a playoff spot against.
Despite the hole, the Tigers never gave up.
Flash forward to Tuesday night and the Conroe Tigers clinched the final playoff spot all on their own.
It was a tight game early with Caney Creek, but the Tigers pulled away in the second half for a 53-28 win.
The Tigers (17-10, 10-6) went 8-2 over their final 10 games to reach the playoffs for a seventh straight season.
“It means everything for me,” Conroe senior point guard Alisa Sneed, who is four-year letterwinner, said.
Junior Riley Gross was also glad to see the streak intact.
“Amazing,” Gross said. “My third year in-a-row to go with Conroe.”
Conroe will play in the Region II Division I bracket next week with the bi-district most likely to be played against Aldine Nimitz either Monday or Tuesday.
“I’m proud,” Conroe coach Tamisha Houston said. “I just told them in the locker room that there was a point where we all could have just went downhill and things could have gotten bad. It took a little bit of growth, a little bit of self-reflection and not just for them. For me too.”
After defeating Willis Friday night, the Tigers soon heard about Oak Ridge’s loss to Grand Oaks that evening. That created a one-game cushion in the standings and a win-and-in game against the Panthers and an avoidance of a possible tiebreaker with the War Eagles, a team they split against in the regular season.
“It was a great feeling,” Sneed said. “We didn’t want to play Oak Ridge again. We really wanted to win this game and end on a good note.”
Playing in front of a large home crowd for senior night, and perhaps with an upset on their minds, Caney Creek matched Conroe shot-for-shot in the early stages.
As Carly Boothe and Gross hit 3s and Taylor Smith made an inside bucket, Caney Creek matched with 3s from Emily Garcia and Cayle McGee plus another jumper by Garcia for an 8-all start.
“I knew it was going to be tough playing on the road,” Houston said. “I knew there was going to be a lot of emotion by Caney Creek. I knew they were going to be relaxed. It’s their last game, they’re going to want to have fun and go out with a bang. But I explained to the girls that we have to take care of ourselves, control what we can control. Today, you win and you’re in.”
McGee made a bucket underneath at 4:45 left for a 10-8 lead, but the Panthers scored just two field goals the rest of the half as Conroe pulled to a 28-15 lead by halftime.
Gross led Conroe with eight points at the break while Smith had five as the Tigers won the second quarter 8-2 after leading 20-13 after the first quarter.
The Panthers turned it over 18 times in the first half with 13 coming in the second quarter.
Caney Creek continued to struggle offensively in the third quarter as it made just one field goal and four free throws. Conroe outscored them 13-6 and continued cruising in the second half for the season sweep.
Gross finished with a team-high 13 points. Sneed added nine while Anastacha McGowen, Boothe and Smith each totaled six points.
McGee had eight for Caney Creek and Mackenzie Harrah finished with seven.
The Tigers are 6-0 against Caney Creek since 2022.
The first win over Caney Creek on Jan. 4 sparked a 6-2 month. A Jan. 15 win over College Park boosted Conroe’s confidence after dropping to the Cavaliers to start district play in November. A Jan. 24 win over Oak Ridge proved to be massive as well.
“We just knew that we had to do our business,” Sneed said. “We knew we had to step up our game and sweep the teams we already won against and split with the others. The College Park win (was a turning point). We just kept going with the Oak Ridge win and beating everybody that we needed to beat.”
Gross felt the work the team put on was key.
“I feel like the time that we’ve spent with each other in the gym building chemistry really brought us up,” she said. “I had feelings of both (making the playoffs or not) since the beginning of the season.”
Houston admitted to some soul-searching of sorts when Conroe struggled earlier in the year. The coach of the program since 2014 focused on the joy and experience the game brought to her personally and to her family.
“We were always overachieving,” Houston said. “For us to be in that position, I was angry a little bit. I didn’t know what to do with those feelings. I didn’t like that feeling.”
In holding Caney Creek to 28 points, Conroe came in below the 36.2 per game it was allowing in the previous five games.
“We were struggling to score, so I was focused on how we can put the ball in the hole,” Houston said. “But defense is what’s been our staple since I took over. It takes athleticism. Check. It takes hustle. Check. It takes speed. Check. And it takes a want to and for the ones that don’t want, I can help them a little bit more.
“We had to make sure that we let our defense be our offense,” Houston said. “It takes a lot of pressure off the girls if they can get a steal and go get a layup as opposed to running a set. That kind of helped a lot that we remembered who we are and what makes us successful.”
Conroe junior Anastacha McGowen (4) blocks a shot against Caney Creek on Feb. 4, 2025 (Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
