Burnet girls basketball loses to Waco La Vega to end its season
CAPTION: The Burnet Lady Dawgs recaptured the district title in 2023-24, their third in four years, and won two playoff contests. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Burnet High School girls basketball team lost to Waco La Vega 72-41 Feb. 20 in the Class 4A regional quarterfinals.
The Lady Dawgs end their season with a 29-9 overall record and 7-1 in District 24-4A play to be the district champions.
Against La Vega, the defending state champions, Burnet took a 10-8 lead after the first period. But the Lady Pirates (28-11, 7-3 District 23-4A champions) outscored Burnet 22-12 in the second stanza for a 30-22 lead at the break.
La Vega continued much of the same in the second half. The Lady Pirates scored 18 points in the third period to lead 48-30 going into the fourth quarter.
“I thought we did a good job of making them go to secondary things,” Burnet head coach Rick Gates said. “Our depth caught up to us. Our starters played extensive minutes. We started making mistakes. Our girls played really well. In the second half, we battled. They had to reach into their bag and do different things. They started turning our mistakes into points.”
The stat that may have bothered him the most was free throws.
“We really struggled from the free throw line,” the coach said. “That’s kind of inexplicable. We needed to knock down more free throws in the first half. And they got a 3-point play right before the buzzer.”
La Vega junior Alaysia Gude led with 17 points followed by senior Mar’Cyah Willis with 15, and sophomore CeMaria Kelly added 11.
Gates said there’s plenty to like about his 2023-24 team.
“I think they really took pride in their defense and played tough defense and were cohesive on the defensive end,” he said. “You’re going to have good nights and bad nights shooting. You can always come out and play good defense.”
The program says goodbye to seniors MaeSyn Gay, Alexis Leatherwood and Zaria Solis. In their four years, Burnet earned a 27-5 district record with three district titles, a runner-up in district play, and a Class 4A Region III championship appearance.
Gay and Solis were named this year’s district’s co-Most Valuable Players and Leatherwood was selected second team all-district. Sophomore guard Journey Denton is the district’s Sixth Man of the Year, while juniors Sydney Lough and Sierra Schaeffer are first team all-district selections. Solis was last year’s district MVP.
“I’m going to miss those seniors, and I’m looking forward to getting the underclassmen back,” Gates said. “This team was fun to coach, and I enjoyed working with them.”
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