The Dripping Springs Lady Tigers finished 3-2 in the Hays CISD Classic this past weekend, earning sixth place out of the 28 teams competing in the non-district girls basketball tournament.
The Lady Tigers were led by All-Tournament selection Danielle Northrup, in addition to a veteran team that is comprised of seniors.
“Sixth place, I’ll take it,” said Dripping Springs head basketball coach David Norris after their final game of the tournament. “This is a really good tournament. This is probably one of the best for girls in this whole area, if not one of the top. Had some really good teams, some competitive top teams. So I’ll take sixth place. Yeah do we want (to play) better, yes we could have. The team (Lovejoy) that barely beat us by a couple of points is playing in the championship, so I’ll take that.”
Northrup consistently played at a high level for Dripping Springs as she averaged 11 points and five rebounds over the five game span of tournament play. The senior power forward recorded double-digit points in four out of the five games.
That included 12 points, seven rebounds and three steals against Cedar Creek, and 13 points, eight rebounds in a close win over Round Rock. Northrup’s dominate play in the paint led to her receiving an All-Tournament selection.
“It feels pretty good,” Northrup said about her all-tournament selection and the sixth place finish. “I’m used to playing in tiny high school tournaments, our classic has like fifteen teams. So it feels pretty good.”
During day one of tournament play the Lady Tigers dominated Cedar Creek 67-22, placing them in the highly competitive Gold Bracket for the remaining four games of the tournament. Dripping Springs’ opening game of the Gold Bracket was a 36-31 nail-biting victory over Round Rock, setting them up for a tough day two matchup against Lucas Lovejoy.
“I feel like the first couple of games we were together, we played like the team we normally have been,” said Northrup. “We’ve took some tough losses, so I was just hoping we would gain confidence back throughout the tournament play. But overall I think we did pretty good, but we can always improve.”
“I feel like the first couple of games we were together, we played like the team we normally have been ... We’ve took some tough losses, so I was just hoping we would gain confidence back throughout the tournament play.”
Danielle Northrup, Lady Tiger basketball player
Dripping Springs fought hard through adversity early on versus Lovejoy, but ultimately there wasn’t enough time left for them to complete the comeback in the 47-43 loss Friday. The Lady Tigers regrouped after the loss and won easily against Victoria East, 52-28, later that day.
“I liked the fight in us when we played yesterday against Lovejoy,” Norris said. “You know coming back, being able to come back in a game like that where we just didn’t play well the first half, just sloppy sloppy sloppy. And kept fighting until the end where we had a shot at winning. One basket here or there and we win the game.”
The final game of Dripping Springs tournament play was a disappointing 63-29 loss against a talented Boswell team. Norris said the Tigers were missing two guards in the Boswell contest. One guard was on a college trip, while the other was taking her SAT.
“We just didn’t have the ball handlers to handle their pressure. I’ve known their coach, is a good friend of mine for a long time, I’m glad that’s the kind of pressure we need,” Norris said. “We need to see when people decide they are going to come out and press us, how do we handle it.”
Alongside Northrup, other key contributors for the Lady Tigers included senior point guard Cassie Louthan, senior guard Annie Hudson, and junior shooting guard Julia Graham.
Graham averaged nine points and 3.4 steals per game, with her best performance coming against Cedar Creek where she had 18 points and seven steals.
Louthan averaged 5.2 points, 2.8 assists and just under 1 block per game. Hudson earned minutes off of the bench versus Lovejoy and was then rewarded with a starting spot against Victoria East. Hudson posted 11 points in both of those games, where she was able to hit from three-point range multiple times.
“I think we got what we needed out of this tournament,” Norris said. “Yeah we wanted an extra win or two, but I think what’s more valuable is just to play.”
