Midlothian Heritage survives late rally, beats Denton Ryan in 5A Texas girls basketball bi-district playoffs

Midlothian Heritage fended off a fierce second-half rally, using their red-hot 3-point and free-throw shooting to seal a 58-46 win over Denton Ryan in the bi-district round of the UIL's Class 5A Texas high school girls basketball playoffs

IRVING, Texas — When the Midlothian Heritage Jaguars saw a rematch upcoming against Denton Ryan, they knew they would have a tough time patrolling the post.

The Jaguars, who lost 59-51 to Denton Ryan earlier this year, knew the kind of game the Raiders wanted to play and learned their lesson from their previous meeting with Ryan in early December.

Midlothian Heritage instead attacked early and often offensively, surging ahead to a decisive 24-point halftime lead until a furious 17-point run by the Raiders brought a seemingly improbable comeback within reach for Ryan.

But Heritage wouldn't allow it. 

The Jaguars leveraged their defense and free-throw shooting down the stretch to survive the Raiders' second-half rally, as Midlothian Heritage secured a 58-46 win over Denton Ryan on Tuesday night at Irving MacArthur High School in the bi-district round of the Class 5A Texas high school girls basketball playoffs. 

The victory extends a four-game winning streak for Heritage, as the Jags advance to the area round of the playoffs for the third straight season where they'll meet Fort Worth Brewer in second-round playoff action.

“They’re big,” Midlothian Heritage girls basketball head coach Angie Evans said. “So we knew they were going to slow it down and go to their bigs inside and we’ve been a transition team so that’s what we were going to rely on.”

Heritage stuck to its game plan and was able to effectively spread the ball around offensively throughout the game, especially early.

Senior guard Taysie Trejo hit two 3-pointers during the first quarter to take an early lead, with 6-foot post Nat Shelton adding five more points, and sophomore Ava Batty putting up an additional four points, as the Jaguars shared the wealth and shot the lights out to begin the first half.

Their domination continued during the second quarter thanks in large part to four points each from senior Jerzie Bryant and junior Ivy Preusser.

Bryant ended up being Midlothian Heritage's leading scorer on the night with 15 points. Trejo was not far behind with 14 points, while Shelton also added 10 for the Jaguars.

“That’s been us all year,” Evans said. “Any given night, it could be anybody lead scorer. Most nights we’ve got multiple kids in double-digits and I think that’s a strength of ours because you’ve got to shut down more than just one person.”

At the halftime break, the Jaguars led 35-11 and appeared to be in complete control. The Raiders, however, refused to go away. 

Denton Ryan came out firing on all cylinders to start the second half and outscored Heritage 17-3 during the third quarter to erase more than half of what was a comfortable 24-point halftime lead.

After the Jaguars scored the first three points of the half, Ryan senior Janiah Allen-Taylor helped spark a double-digit run for the Raiders, accounting for nine points and four defensive rebounds herself during that stretch.

Junior forward Aspen Hicks scored another six points during Ryan's momentum-shifting run in the frame to make the score 38-28 heading into the fourth quarter.

“They’re a great team,” Evans said. “I knew they were going to come out and try to hit us in the mouth and they did. We weren’t ready and kind of relaxed a little bit. But they’re a good team, I won’t take anything away from them. They earned that quarter. We weren’t ready.”

Then in the fourth quarter, Heritage found its groove again and matched the Raiders point for point. Bryant was fouled four times in the final 8 minutes, and she connected on 7 out of 8 free throws. A stat that Heritage had dominated throughout the match.

Out of 22 attempts from the free throw line, the Jaguars connected on 17 for a percentage of 77.2%.

“We work on it every day,” Evans mentioned. “That’s more mental than anything. It’s reps, it’s mucsle memory but it’s reps. Both teams were in quite a bit of foul trouble so the free throw game was very important.”

With Ryan at bay, Heritage held on and pulled out the 58-46 victory. They improve to 29-7 on the season and will meet Fort Worth Brewer (27-3) at a time and date to be determined.

Denton Ryan (25-8) wraps up its 2022-23 campaign with the loss after reaching the bi-district round of the 5A Texas high school girls basketball playoffs for the second straight season, still searching for the program's first postseason victory since 2017.

The Raiders ended the year on a three-game losing skid after having won 17 of their last 18 games previously.

Midlothian Heritage (29-7) advances to the area round of the UIL's 5A girls basketball playoffs, where the Jaguars will return to action against the Fort Worth Brewer Bears (27-3) at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, at the Arlington ISD Athletics Center.

Fort Worth Brewer defeated Fort Worth North Side in a 74-11 bi-district round victory on Monday night in Saginaw.

Check out SBLive's exclusive photo gallery from the game:

---

PHOTO GALLERY — MIDLOTHIAN HERITAGE 58, DENTON RYAN 45

All photos by Brian McLean