Aubre Prox, Piper Wilburn push Kaufman past Dallas Carter in 4A Texas girls basketball bi-district playoffs
FORNEY, Texas — At the end of the first quarter of their opening round playoff game, the Kaufman Lions were in a hole.
The Lions only trailed Dallas Carter by a bucket by the end of the opening quarter of play, but they were already facing early foul trouble and were frantically looking for answers to slow down the Cowgirls prolific low-post attack offensively.
Kaufman turned to its offense to fix its defensive woes down low, and that's when the backcourt tandem of Aubre Prox and Piper Wilburn got going for the Lions.
Prox and Wilburn took the attack to Carter offensively, driving the lane to get uncontested transition buckets and trips to the free-throw line.
The Lions' guard duo helped their team take a halftime lead behind the strength of a strong second quarter. Then Wilburn and Prox put their feet on the gas, attacking the basket during a fourth-quarter surge that helped propel Kaufman to a 50-35 bi-district round win over Dallas Carter on Tuesday night at Forney High School.
The victory extends a four-game winning streak for the Lions, and also represents Kaufman's first bi-district win in the UIL girls basketball playoffs in 14 years.
After junior center Tyari Ray and sophomore power forwards Aniya Davis and Rylan Jones accounted for all of Carter's first-quarter points near the rim, Kaufman trailed 11-9 at the start of the second which is when the tide started to turn in their favor.
Paced by Prox and Wilburn's hard-charging lead, the Lions earned 11 trips to the free-throw line in 8 minutes to hold a 23-16 halftime advantage.
Carter's backcourt began to heat up after the half, but the Cowgirls were unable to close the gap by the end of the period after the two sides played to a draw during a defensive third quarter.
The Lions, however, made their stand during a fourth-quarter surge that proved to be the decisive difference maker late in the game.
Led by Prox and Wilburn' hard drives to the basket, Kaufman sank nine of 12 free-throw attempts during the waning moments of the game to break it wide open.
Prox didn't miss a shot after the first quarter, tallying a team-high 11 second-half points.
Wilburn, meanwhile, was the most dialed in player on the court during the fourth quarter, when she scored a team-high seven points in the period and tallied a 5-of-6 shooting clip from the free-throw line during the period.
Prox finished with a game-high 14 points, while Wilburn added 12 for the Lions.
Jones and Davis led the Cowgirls in scoring with six and five points, respectively.
Dallas Carter (9-17) wraps up its 2022-23 season following the bi-district playoff loss, marking the Cowgirls' third straight year with a postseason appearance.
Kaufman (22-9) advances to the area round of the UIL's Class 4A girls basketball playoffs, where the Lions will meet the North Lamar Panthers (28-6) at a to-be-determined time, date and location later this week.
North Lamar defeated Mabank 50-33 in its first-round playoff matchup on Monday night.
Check out SBLive's exclusive photo gallery from the game:
PHOTO GALLERY — KAUFMAN 50, DALLAS CARTER 35
All photos/video highlights by Robbie Rakestraw
