Sands storms past Robert Lee for Texas 1A Girls Basketball State Championship

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Ackerly Sands waited more than 60 years to make a return trip to the Texas high school girls basketball state championship game, but seized on the opportunity.

The Mustangs unleashed a ferocious defense, dominated in transition and blitzed Robert Lee en route to a 60-33 blowout victory in the UIL’s 1A Girls Basketball State Championship game Saturday morning at the Alamodome.

“It's overwhelming, actually. The whole experience has been very awesome. As a coach, you work all your life to win and do something like this. I’m so happy for these young ladies, who let me join them for the ride to experience this,” Ackerly Sands head coach Ben Connell said. 

“To get in with the seniors for a long, long time in junior high (and) working all the way to this point… It's my greatest moment as a coach to be able to experience this with this group. It's pretty awesome.”

“We knew we had to come out and play hard. We just had struggled with their press and their aggressive defense. They're an amazing group of girls,” Robert Lee head coach Brandye Wilson said.

“We had to try to stop that and we struggled with it today, but I will say this: my girls might be super proud today. They always give everything their whole heart and they made me proud.”

Robert Lee actually jumped out to grab an early edge and led 12-8 by the end of the first quarter by dominating in the battle on the boards.

The Steers out-rebounded their opponents from the opening tip, but could not maintain their lead for long after Sands called for a timeout then dialed up its defensive intensity.

“I think they just became a little bit more aggressive, I felt like. It wasn't so much a major different look, it was just they became more aggressive with their defense,” Wilson said. “Honestly, we have not seen a defense like that all year. I think it threw us off a little bit and frustrated some of my girls, especially some of the younger ones, and caused a little bit of a problem for us.”

Robert Lee played stout defense and controlled the glass throughout the game, but none of it was enough to overcome Sands’ stifling half-court trap.

The Mustangs generated 19 steals collectively and forced 36 turnovers in 38 minutes of game time, effectively preventing Robert Lee from ever settling into its offensive rhythm.

Sands’ was able to turn that disruptive defensive advantage into sizable edges for the Mustangs in points off turnovers (36-7), points in the paint (28-18) and fastbreak points (10-4).

“Sometimes I got a little frustrated with our shooting, but they just tightened up the defense and started causing a lot more turnovers to where it was like 23 by halftime,” Connell said. “And that caused adrenaline to go the other way and just get you in attack mode to push this in the right direction and be successful during the game to make those runs.”

“We were getting in the habit of as soon as we got across half court, we would stop and hold the ball. We talked about trying to push the ball up a little bit and being able to see the whole floor,” Wilson said. “We put a girl in the middle and hopefully thought we might see that and be able to break (it up). Those girls were just so aggressive though sometimes that we just had a hard time seeing the whole floor.”

Sands junior guard Elysa Martinez was voted the 1A state tournament MVP after tallying a double double with 22 points and 10 steals on 44.4% shooting. Senior forward Landry Morrow and junior guard Bianca Plata also each reached double figures for the Mustangs with 20 and 10 points, respectively.

“For these past (two) state games, Coach wanted us to push the ball, push the ball. That's all we had to do in order to beat them: get buckets and come back and transition on defense,” Martinez said.

“That's really all I can say, pushing and leading. I got two leaders right here. They help me, I help them. We all help each other. We maintain each other's chemistry and we make sure we're all going right.

The gut-wrenching defeat ends a historic season for Robert Lee at 35-3 overall, as the Steers advanced to the state tournament for just the second time in school history and first state championship game since 1978.

The Mustangs, meanwhile, improved to 35-3 with the win and became the first team to bring a girls basketball state championship trophy back to Sands.

“Unreal. I can't even describe it right now,” Sands senior forward Landry Morrow said. Hopefully I don't get emotional because it has just been such a journey to get here now. My team deserves it, they worked hard.”

“For the community, just a little small town, this is a big deal. West Texas girls basketball is huge,” Connell said.

“It's important for the community and creates a lot of bonding in the society we live in right now. This is awesome that we get to see our community bond come together. It's an experience of a lifetime for them to see that.”