THRALL — Tuesday night’s 43-35 win by the Thrall Tigerettes (20-12 overall, 12-0 District 27-2A) over the Milano Lady Eagles (19-11, 10-2), gave the Tigerettes their first district championship since the 2011-2012 season, and Coach Katina Walker her 200th career win.
While the Tigerettes cruised to an easy win in their first match-up with the Lady Eagles, with the district title on the line, Milano came ready to play. Peyton Robertson scored six of her game-high 16 points in the opening period, which helped the Lady Eagles to a 13-9 first-quarter lead.
Thrall had battled back to knot the score at eight apiece, but Milano finished the period with a 5-1 run.
Thrall rallied early in the second quarter. Ashlyn Jarosek hit a pair of free throws with 5:27 to play in the quarter to tie the game at 13, and her fast-break layup a few seconds later gave the Tigerettes their first lead of the game.
Thrall eventually built a 22-15 advantage with just over three minutes to play in the half, but Robertson’s back-door layup tied the score at 22.
The Tigerettes responded with a free throw by Kinley Hoffman hit a shot from the charity stripe, and Jarosek banked in a jumper with 24 seconds on the clock to put the Tigerettes back ahead, 25-22.
Robertson cut the lead to one with a second back-door shot, and Milano trailed 25-24 at the half.
The score remained close throughout much of the third quarter, but a run by the Tigerettes, combined with shooting struggles by the Lady Eagles, allowed Thrall to build a 35-28 lead with 41 seconds remaining in the period.
Milano scored the final bucket of the quarter to cut the lead to five.
Milano continued to struggle from the field in the fourth quarter, while Thrall took advantage of Lady Eagle turnovers to keep the margin at seven late through most of the final period. Hoffman’s steal and lay-up with 1:39 on the clock gave Thrall a 41-34 lead. Milano added one more free throw, but CeCe Walker’s putback jumper with 12 seconds to play sealed the win.
Jarosek led the Tigerettes with 13 points, while Nevaeh Irvin and Hoffman each had 10. Hoffman also led the team in rebounds with eight and steals with seven.
Thrall was awaiting the outcome of a playoff game between Weimar and Bloomington to find out who the Tigerettes will face in bidistrict next week. Those two teams were scheduled to play Friday night in Shiner. Thrall will play the loser, while Milano will face the winner.
