A fourth quarter meltdown kept the Dripping Springs Lady Tigers from pulling off a major early season upset as they fell to the state-ranked Crockett Lady Cougars 32-28 Friday.
Dripping Springs (9-9, 1-1) led 14-12 at intermission, which then expanded to 35-19 heading into the fourth frame.
Crockett (18-2, 2-0) rallied to outscore Dripping Springs 13-3 in the final frame.
The Lady Tigers’ loss came on the heels of a 50-point district opening road win over the Travis Lady Rebels Dec. 11.
In that contest, nearly every Lady Tiger player recorded at least one point and one rebound against an outmatched Travis squad.
Dripping Springs’ Ally Beck scored a game-high 13 points, while sophomore Caroline Gamble finished with 12 points. Six other Lady Tiger players finished with five or more points in the game.
Junior Avery Johnson led the team with five total rebounds and four assists as well as one steal against Travis. Beck, along with seniors Caitlyn Brack and Hannah Pena each recorded four total boards.
Senior Kennedy Donovan recorded six steals.
Dripping Springs led 24-5 after the first quarter. The Tiger defense clamped down and kept Travis scoreless for the next two quarters. Meanwhile, the Tigers went on a 36-0 run that spanned eight minutes of game time. The Tigers outscored Travis 16-11 in the final quarter.
So far this season, Beck leads the team by averaging just over nine points per game, while Donovan follows with 8.9 points per contest. Brack leads the Lady Tigers with four rebounds per game, while Pena is averaging 3.4.
Dripping Springs hosts Lanier Friday at 7 p.m. The Lady Tigers are then in action Jan. 2 on the road at Austin LBJ.
District 25-5A girls basketball standings as of Dec. 18
Lanier 1-0
Crockett 2-0
LBJ 2-0
Dripping Springs 1-1
Lockhart 1-1
Reagan 0-2
Travis 0-1
McCallum 0-2
