Sweeny girls basketball team one win away from regional tournament

From the Brazosport Facts

The Sweeny Lady Bulldogs (31-6) are just a victory away from the Class 4A Region III tournament, but must get by a tough Silsbee Lady Tiger bunch first.

Even before the playoffs started for the Lady Bulldogs, head coach Dwayne Stevens told his players to mark down March 1 on their calendars. That is the 4A UIL state semifinals at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

“We keep telling them that they’ve been prepared, but to just keep playing their game and have each other’s backs,” Stevens said. “We continue to stress the fundamental stuff to them, so if they box out, don’t turn the ball over and score more than them, then they will be the victors.”

With that kind of sound advice, maybe Sweeny will be able to obtain its goal. Beating Silsbee in the quarterfinal round today at Channelview High School would give them a boost.

“This would be a big confidence-builder for us if we can get past them,” Stevens said.

The Lady Bulldogs lead something about themselves in their area win Friday after losing starting point guard Jaidyn Fontenette to fouls.

“We saw the body language of our kids when she fouled out and I had to call a timeout,” Stevens said. “We told them that we had a quarter to play and Jaidyn had played for them all year long and they needed to play the last quarter for her. If they didn’t, then Jaidyn would have to sit on the bench for the last seven minutes of her career.”

Sweeny responded in fine fashion.

“I am glad they answered the call, but more importantly was that it gave them the confidence to show that they are capable of playing true team ball,” he said. “And they got the job done without her.”

Another team effort will be needed against the Lady Tigers, who put 83 points on Houston Yates in their area round victory.

“We keep stressing to them that they are in a different class of teams, and with each game, the teams are only getting better,” Stevens said. “They know what is at stake and they know that Silsbee was one of the teams selected to represent the region at the tournament.”

Silsbee poses a particular challenge because of the number of ways it can score and number of players who can step up.

“We know they can score a lot of points,” Stevens said. “They also have a point guard (T’Nya Irvin) who gets their offense going, and also No. 30 (Emery Maze), she will be the best post that we’ve seen this year. If we don’t take care of her inside she will hurt us. Also a No. 4 (Brandis Bass) that if we leave her alone at the three-point line, she likes taking threes, moreso than anything inside. They have all of the pieces of the puzzle to win the region tournament and go to state.”

Sweeny played a much cleaner game against Tarkington than they did against Houston Kashmere in the bidistrict round. They’ll need to repeat that, keep Fontenette out of foul trouble and force the Lady Tigers to make some mistakes tonight.

“If I saw a weakness, it was their bench, so if we can get them in some foul trouble, we could be pretty even with them more on the floor,” Stevens said. “If we can play our best game, we will do well against them.”

The winner moves onto the region tournament to take on Waco Connally or Fairfield in the semifinal round Friday.