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Sigh of Relief: Rowlett girls hold off Lakeview to secure 11-5A championship
By DEVIN HASSON, dhasson@starlocalnews.com
It has been more than a decade since Rowlett has won a district championship in girls basketball.
So even after a 14-game winning streak put them in the driver's seat for the 11-5A title, the Eagles knew that finishing the job would not be easy.
Rowlett suffered its first hiccup in district play last week against Naaman Forest, making Tuesday's regular season finale against Lakeview a must-win if it wanted to avoid sharing the crown with the Rangers.
Rowlett (22-8, 11-1 in 11-5A) claims the outright district championship and will be the No. 1 seed in the playoffs where it will face Longview, the fourth seed from 12-5A, on Monday at 7 p.m. at Lindale High School.
"It has been a long time," Rowlett head coach Ricky Roland said. "I knew that we had a good group of girls when they were freshmen, and now that they are seniors, they really stepped up."
The Eagles got off to just the start they wanted. Behind Dominique Oliver, who had a team-high 25 points, Rowlett stormed to a 22-8 lead after just one quarter.
"She came out really strong and hit some shots," Roland said. "That really helped us get out to that lead."
The Eagles needed every bit of that cushion. Lakeview started chopping away at its deficit, getting to within 30-23 at halftime and making it even tighter at the end. The Patriots had a chance to tie the game late, but were unable to connect and Rowlett was finally able to celebrate.
"It feels good, it was a little shaky there at the end, we just couldn't make our free throws, but I'll take it," Roland said.
Not only did Rowlett break a long district title drought, it is also back in the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
As the No. 1 seed, the Eagles will be the favorite against fourth-seeded Longview, but they are not taking anything for granted.
"There are a lot of good teams, the next round is either Plano or Plano West, so it is a tough path, but we just have to focus on Longview," Roland said. "We can't worry about who we are playing, we think if we play our 'A' game, we are capable of playing with anybody."
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