Julianna Lamendola leads Coppell over MacArthur in 6A Texas girls basketball playoffs

The Coppell girls basketball team rolled to a 53-36 victory over MacArthur Friday night to claim the area championship and advance to the third round of the Texas state playoffs.

The Coppell girls basketball team rolled to a 53-36 victory over MacArthur Friday night to claim the area championship and advance to the third round of the 6A Texas state playoffs.

Junior forward Julianna Lamendola led the Cowgirls with 15 points and dominated the boards to help Coppell secure the 17-point victory.

The Cowgirls (37-1), who are currently ranked No. 6 overall in the state of Texas, came out on fire to start the game.

A barrage of three-pointers, rebounding, and stifling defense helped Coppell race out to a 10-point lead over the Cardinals (18-9) heading into the half.

Turnovers, however, limited what could have been a large double-digit lead for the Cowgirls.

“We were just kind of sloppy,” Coppell head coach Ryan Murphy said about the first half. “The whole purpose of their zone was to try to force us to start jacking up shots instead of working the ball inside. I thought we rushed it, we just took the first available shot rather than the best shot for us.”

The Cowgirls saw their lead grow to 18 by the end of the third quarter thanks to strong defensive pressure that allowed just 6 points to the Cardinals.

Coach Murphy credited his starting shooting guard Saiya Patel for the team’s stellar defensive performance in the third quarter.

“Saiya Patel,” said Murphy. “She sets the tone for our defense, she meets that point guard at half court. They have a hard time just getting into offense because of her ball pressure, she does a great job of moving her feet without fouling, she’s scrappy she’s in the passing lanes ... she’s our spark. ”

Patel, a junior, received roaring support from the crowd in response to her defensive play. She spoke on the atmosphere of the moment after the game.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “Cowgirl basketball hasn’t played like this in the past decade, so knowing that we have a community behind us ... It’s not just the team or coach, it’s our whole city supporting us and it’s great to see.”

Ahead of next week’s matchup with the South Grand Prairie Warriors (31-4), coach Murphy looked at room for improvement to keep their remarkable season going.

“On to the next,” he said. “Obviously we got things that we have to clean up, teams will probably zone us. Looks like we’ll play SGP, I doubt they’ll zone us but you never know. So we got some things we got to clean up, but it's just like everything else this year.”