The road to the state championship officially begins on Thursday as the top high school basketball teams head to the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Undefeated Plano East High School headlines the top-ranked 6A semifinal match. Hailing from Plano ISD, the Panthers are the only undefeated team in the tournament. After a 10-year hiatus from post-season play, Plano East is looking to become the first team on campus to win a championship.
Underdog Lake Ridge, a Mansfield ISD school in the Fort Worth area, is looking to play spoiler and do what no other team this season has, shut down the potent offense headed by Plano East’s DJ Hall.
“We’ve been the underdog all season,” said Lake Ridge coach Cornelius Mitchell, reported The Dallas Morning News. “Nobody would have picked us to be here, nobody picked us to get to the regional tournament. We’re OK with that. We don’t have any big-time players on our team, but I think if you connect all of us together, we can put together a pretty good group of guys that can compete.”
Lake Ridge is facing its own tall task. Since opening in 2012, the school has never won a championship. Lake Ridge has nine seniors on the starting lineup, none of whom have committed to a college program. Three-star recruit Amir McMillian, a transfer from Legacy, has said that he will announce a decision after the finals.
Plano East and Lake Ridge tip off at 7 p.m. on March 8.
South Dallas’s Lancaster High School has unfinished business in the state semifinals. The school put a team on the court in 2020 — the top-ranked team in Texas — that had the potential to take state, but COVID-19 cut those dreams short. Now, the Legends enter the tournament ranked No.1, as reported by CBS News Texas. Lancaster is playing in 5A for the last time before being reclassified as 6A next season.
Amari Reed said the team has put in the work and is ready to win its third state championship in head coach Ferrin Douglas’ career at Lancaster.
“It’s been a process. It’s been a long time coming,” said senior forward Dillon Battie to CBS. “[We’ve] taken a lot of chips and knicks all the way around, but we’re here right now, and we got some more to do.”
Lancaster plays Amarillo on March 7 at 7:00 p.m.
In 4A competition is Oak Cliff ISD Family Faith Academy, which is looking for its fourth state title in six years. It will also be the last season the Eagles compete in 4A basketball after being realigned to 5A next season, as reported by BNN.
“We were anticipating it, we were hoping that it would happen, and we’re excited about it,” said Faith Family head coach Brandon Thomas, commenting on the upcoming move to 5A, reported the DMN. “Any time you have a new challenge presented in front of you, it gets you in a mindset where you know you have to focus a little bit harder. It gives you something new to go after. We’re up for the challenge.”
Oak Cliff plays Stafford at 8:30 p.m. on March 8.
