Faith Academy girls basketball finishes 3rd in district, advances to postseason
CAPTION: The 2024-25 Faith Academy girls basketball team is Cuyleigh Zimmerman (left), Layla Terrell, Selby Sanchez, Madison Winsborough, Natalie Weems, Megan Burrows, Lilly Koziel, Hadley Shipley, Olivia Kraenzel, Jasmine Young; head coach Harvey Vaughn (hiding behind Burrows and Koziel), assistant coach Steve Hatch, and boys basketball assistant coach Malcolm Canada. Courtesy photo
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls girls basketball team defeated Temple Central Texas Christian 39-34 Feb. 11.
The win means the Lady Flames swept the season series are head into the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools’ Class 3A playoffs as the third-place team out of District 4-3A.
Next up is a playoff game at Huntsville Alpha Omega Academy at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18.
Going into the contest, CTC and Faith were supposed to play for third place in the district standings. But CTC lost to San Antonio Keystone Feb. 7, which put the Lady Flames in third place regardless of the outcome between the two teams.
Still, head coach Harvey Vaughn said the Lady Lions are very good as evidenced by their 32-25 loss to Waco Live Oak, the No. 1 team in the state, Jan. 28.
CTC took a 9-2 lead after the first quarter and a 17-11 advantage at the half.
As the players entered the locker room, Vaughn said he sat silent for second.
“We didn’t play all that well in the first half,” he said. “The girls were forcing passes and trying too hard. I told them, ‘We’re only down by six or seven. We have played poorly as far as getting the ball in the basket. We’re doing very well defensively.’ To their credit, they didn’t get down on themselves. They were grinding it out, and it finally kicked in when we needed it to.”
The Lady Flames made a commitment to get the ball to posts Hadley Shipley, a senior, and Natalie Weems, a junior. The two got the high-low game going and then posted up on the low block and called for the ball.
“We packed in the box,” Vaughn said. “They were rebounding and shooting it.”
Faith outscored CTC 11-6 in the third stanza to trail 23-22 going into the final stanza.
With 2 minutes and 30 seconds left, Faith tied the contest only to see CTC hit a 3-pointer on the other end.
“Those hurt when they do that,” Vaughn said. “We were behind the whole game. They made five 3-pointers in the game. I called a timeout and basically told the girls to jump on their passes. We started getting turnovers and steals. We took an eight-point lead. All that happened in the last two minutes.”
Shipley led with 20 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block, while Weems scored 11 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, had 4 steals, an assist and a block. Sophomore point guard Lilly Koziel, who defended CTC’s top scorer, had 5 rebounds, a steal and had 5 assists to 1 turnover. Freshmen Cuyleigh Zimmerman contributed 4 points and 5 rebounds and Olivia Kraenzel dropped in 4 points and had 3 steals, 2 assists and a rebound.
“Hadley’s had a monster year,” Vaughn said. “She’s very coachable and takes to coaching and wants to succeed. She’s been a joy to coach. I’m really proud of the girls. Lilly played very well. They really worked hard and played better.”
