Girls basketball playoffs: State champion Duncanville routs Mesquite Horn; Sachse wins at the buzzer — again

Find a recap of boys basketball games from Tuesday night here.

ADDISON — Duncanville girls basketball coach LaJeanna Howard has a simple strategy when it comes to defense: shut everybody down.

The Pantherettes were masters of that message for about a quarter and a half on Tuesday, and that included the best scorer in the area.

Defending Class 6A state champion Duncanville went on a 28-5 rampage in the third and fourth quarters, humbling what had been a decent effort by Mesquite Horn before Duncanville ran away with an 82-52 win in a Class 6A area-round playoff game at Loos Fieldhouse.

Duncanville simply wore Horn down in the run, and in the end scored three baskets in 13 seconds off three steals, with Amaya Bernard scoring the last to give Duncanville a 77-46 edge with 1:47 remaining. Bernard and SMU signee Zaria Rufus led Duncanville with 13 points apiece, with Rufus anchoring the offense with nine fourth-quarter points.

While Duncanville had balanced offense, with five players in double figures, it was defense that ruled the night. The Pantherettes had a 27-8 edge in steals, led by six from Tristen Taylor to go with 11 points.

“We just had to calm down as a team and play the game we practice,” Taylor said. “We listened to our coach in the second half and did what she told us. We played way better in the second half.”

Duncanville (26-2), ranked No. 3 in the state by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, will play Cedar Hill in the 6A Region II quarterfinals. Horn (23-5), ranked No. 9 in area, had not advanced past the area round in the past four seasons.

Horn’s standout scorer, Mississippi State signee Jasmine Shavers, did lead all players with 30 points. Shavers, who led all area players with 25.3 points per game in the regular season, had 20 points in the first half thanks to a variety of drives and step-back jumpers.

Shavers, the area’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2021, scored the last six in the half and made a driving basket as time expired to cut Duncanville’s lead to 39-28. In Duncanville’s big run however — in which Shavers was often double-teamed — she was limited to one free throw, and she ended up being Horn’s lone double-figure scorer.

“We had to send another defender at her and mixed things up. We actually put more pressure on people who were passing her the ball to cause more turnovers, and we just kept running,” Howard said. “We want to shut everybody down. That young lady (Shavers) earned the buckets she got. We have a mind-set to not give anybody anything.”

Duncanville also enjoyed a 45-30 edge in rebounds, led by 6-3 post Kiersten Johnson, who was superb in the paint with 10 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Syracuse signee Nyah Wilson came off the bench to add 11 points, five assists and four steals for Duncanville.

Rick Kretzschmar

Sachse 56, Mansfield 54: Crislyn Rose drove and banked in a shot from the right side of the lane as time expired to give Sachse a dramatic victory in a 6A area-round playoff game.

Rose also scored the game-winning basket at the buzzer in a 45-44 win over Rockwall on Feb. 12 in the first round of the playoffs. Rose finished with 22 points, Londyn Oliphant scored 13, and Neenah George had 10 points.

Sachse (14-7) led by two at halftime but was outscored 18-8 in the third quarter and went into the fourth quarter trailing 42-34.

DeSoto 65, Tyler Legacy 26: Nationally ranked DeSoto reached the third round of the playoffs for the third straight season after opening the game on a 20-8 run and leading 35-11 at halftime.

Houston signee Kendall Brown scored a team-high 14 points for DeSoto (23-2), ranked No. 12 in the nation by MaxPreps. The state’s second-ranked 6A team also got 12 points apiece from 6-3 four-star junior forward Amina Muhammad and 6-4 four-star junior forward Sa’Myah Smith.

DeSoto will play Sachse in the 6A Region II quarterfinals.

Cedar Hill 41, Skyline 34: Jadyn Atchison had 13 points and 10 rebounds as Cedar Hill advanced to play District 11-6A rival Duncanville in the 6A Region II quarterfinals.

It was a low-scoring first half, with Cedar Hill leading 15-13, and the state’s 23rd-ranked team extended its advantage to 28-22 going into the fourth quarter.

Keller 65, El Paso Franklin 19: District 4-6A champion Keller bolted to a 23-3 lead after one quarter and extended the lead to 41 points through three quarters in the area-round playoff game.

Kim Cohen scored 14 points to pace Keller (20-6), which is one of three teams from 4-6A to reach the 6A Region I quarterfinals, along with Keller Timber Creek and Southlake Carroll. Keller will face 3-6A champion North Crowley in the 6A Region I quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Arlington ISD Sports Complex.

Keller Timber Creek 54, Wolfforth Frenship 48: Mia Topping scored 16 points, and Theresa Kailahi finished with 15 points in Timber Creek’s area-round win. Timber Creek (17-9) will play Southlake Carroll in the third round of the playoffs.

Sunnyvale 43, Bullard 28: The state’s fourth-ranked 4A team got 16 points from Micah Russell and 13 from Brinley Andrews in its area-round victory.

Takoya Stallings dominated on the boards, finishing with 11 rebounds for Sunnyvale (26-1). Sunnyvale will play Brownsboro in the 4A Region II quarterfinals.

Highland Park 51, Lufkin 29: Madison Visinsky scored 15 points on 5 of 9 shooting and grabbed six rebounds as Highland Park beat Lufkin late Monday night. Alianne Elmore added eight rebounds for Highland Park, which will play Red Oak in the 5A Region II quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at South Oak Cliff.

Photos: Jump for it! Mesquite Horn attempts to save a ball in bounds against Duncanville

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