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Girls Varsity Basketball - Head Coach Alexis Green

Varsity Girls Basketball News

Ideally, a team peaks at the end of the season and plays its best game in its last game, which hopefully comes in the post-season. The Stratford Spartans Girls Basketball team played inspired Friday night at the Merrell Center in Katy in its second-round playoff game against a Tompkins team that had 31 wins and only three losses.

The Spartans opened the game with big three-point shots from senior Audrey Hernandez and freshman Rachel Ashby, and took a 14-8 lead after Hernandez found senior Jasmine Green under the basket againat the shell-shocked Falcons.
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Head Coach Alexis Greene used a tight rotation throughout the game and it clicked, but early in the game she went to the bench for senior Nilou Mahmoodpour, who was injured last year and has not played significant minutes this season in her rehabilitation. Mahmoodpour promptly drained a trey from the corner, igniting her coaches, teammates, and everyone in the Merrell Center who was wearing green. 

The Spartans defense played as good of a game as they have all season, holding Tompkins to near its season low in points scored in regulation. Nevertheless, the Falcons climbed back to keep it close in the first half, especially after Jazz went to the bench with two early fouls. 

With two minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, the Falcons held a one-point lead. In the span of three minutes, Tompkins held a nine-point lead early in the 4th. The Spartans turned up the defensive pressure, the Falcons failed to make their shots, and Stratford clawed back. With approximately two minutes remaining, Hernandez hit a three from the right corner to tie at 45 apiece.
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Down 2 points with the clock ticking and Tompkins defense cutting off the Spartans three-point shooters, Jazz received the ball on the right wing, drove to the basket where the defense met her, executed a spin move from just outside the lane and lofted in a six-footer to tie the score (47-47) with 6.9 seconds on the clock.
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Tompkins got free in the open court and drove to the basket with time to score, only to arrive face-to-face with sophomore Holly Horton, who blocked the shot with impunity. Ashby attempted to control the loose ball only to be tackled and nearly injured by a Tompkins player at the buzzer. The refs swallowed their whistles. Had they called the obvious foul, it would have put the excellent free-throw shooting Ashby on the line with no time on the clock and a tie game.

In overtime, Tompkins shots started falling and the Stratford-six of Hernandez, Jazz, AshbyHorton, juniors Maggie Parker and JaKyla Cheeves, who played the vast majority of the minutes in the game, had tired legs that always make shots more difficult. The Spartans fell 57-51 in OT.

Cheeves played one of her best games of the season. She led the team with 14 points on four of five shooting from the field and five of seven from the charity stripe. She was often a spark in keeping the Spartans in the game on both offense and defense.

Hernandez followed with 11 points, including three big three-pointers and five rebounds.

Jazz scored nine points and garnered nine rebounds despite limited minutes in the first half and fouling out late in the game.

Parker scored seven points and had four rebounds. Ashby, despite only adding two free-throws to her first quarter three, was arguably the Spartans MVP on the night by superlatively protecting the ball, running the team like an experienced general, and creating at least three turnovers and three assists.  
 

Head Coach Alexis Green was voted District 17-6A Coach of the Year, three years into her tenure, after getting the Spartans into the post-season for the first time in seven years. 

Stratford vs. Bellaire

On Wednesday, February 16th the Spartans played their first post-season game in seven years. There didn't appear to be any rust on this year's team as they thoroughly dominated Bellaire 52-33 at Delmar Stadium. The Spartans outrebounded the Cardinals 51-34 and shot 19% from behind the arc to only 6% for Bellaire. 

In their first post-season wins of their careers in a Stratford uniform, Ashby and Jazz led with 13 points each. Jazz also snagged 16 rebounds in only 20 minutes of action! Hernandez scored 10 and Cheeves had 9. Parker had 13 rebounds to go with 4 points.

The bench made sure the game was in hand by "brewing" on the sidelines with Horton holding an imaginary pot and junior Lily McClanahan stirring it while the rest of the bench added "ingredients" while their teammates were shooting free throws. It must have worked, with Ashby and Green both going five for eight and Hernandez shooting five for six.

1st Team All-District:
Audrey Hernandez
Jasmine Green
Rachel Ashby

2nd Team All-District:
JaKyla Cheeves

Honorable Mention All-District:
Maggie Parker

District 17-6A Coach of the Year:
Alexis Green

The Lady Spartans concluded the regular season this past Wednesday with all three teams respectively throttling Northbrook. The Freshman team went undefeated in district play and the JV team finished in 3rd place.

Varsity finished in a tie for 3rd and will advance to the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. They will play Bellaire on Tuesday, February 15th at Delmar at 7 pm. Here is the link to purchase tickets:

Bellaire vs. Stratford: https://gofan.co/app/events/535920

This is excerpted from the "Houston Chronicle's" Elliot Lapin:

Stratford led Northbrook 6-0 after one quarter behind three points apiece from senior Jasmine Green and freshman Rachel Ashby before putting up 23 points in the second quarter to take a 29-2 halftime lead.

Seven different Lady Spartans scored in the second quarter led by six points from junior Jakyla Cheeves and five points apiece from Ashby and senior Audrey Hernandez.

“It was awesome to get everybody in the game, everybody in the rotation,” said (Head Coach Alexis) Green. “All the girls had fun. All the girls support each other. They cheer for each other. They love each other, and it’s just an awesome feeling to have.”

All of senior Bianca Pinal’s co-game-high ten points came in the second half. Cheeves also finished with ten points.

Stratford’s six seniors were recognized and honored in a senior night ceremony before the game.

Stratford’s playoff berth is its first in seven seasons.

“It means a lot,” said Green, “It means a lot to the community. It means a lot to the kids. It means a lot to me; it will be my first time going to the playoffs as a head coach.”

“I’m elated, and I’m glad for them because they deserve it. They’ve worked so hard,” Green added.

Lady Spartan Basketball Takes on Cy-Creek, Memorial

By Kevin Epps 02/07/2022, 4:00pm CST

Varsity:

Your Varsity Lady Spartans are en route to finish the season in a three-way tie for 3rd place in district with a chance to go to the playoffs for the first time in seven years! They currently sit at 7-6 with the last game on Wednesday at home vs. Northbrook. You should definitely come recognize this group of seniors on Senior Night!

Head Coach Alexis Green badly wanted a win on Saturday vs. Cy-Creek to bolster their post-season opportunities, but it was one of those days where some questionable officiating did not go the Spartans way and beautifully arched three-point shots rimmed out repeatedly. The bigger and faster Cougars took advantage of an overall rough-shooting day by Stratford. Freshman guard Rachel Ashby came out hot in the first quarter with two three-pointers and Senior shooter Audrey Hernandez knocked in one as well and it felt like the 11-1 in-district Cougars were going to be tested. But after that the points came primarily from Hernandez (three treys total overall, 11 points total) and Senior Jasmine Green (15 points, 13 rebounds). Ashby finished with nine points and Junior Maggie Parker hauled in eight rebounds

Coach Green is building the foundation of a program and that usually comes in increments. While Stratford lost 48-30 to Memorial on Wednesday, it was an improvement from the last time the teams met. The Spartans' defense held Memorial to a district season-low 48 points, five better than the 53 (previous low) that the Mustangs scored against Cy-Creek! Non-Seniors Ashby (Fr), JaKyla Cheeves (Jr), Parker (Jr), Lily McClanahan (Jr) and Olivia Zander (Jr) were key contributors and have been all season, with other talented players pushing each other in practice and waiting in the wings. For the game Jaz Green grabbed 14 rebounds and Hernandez led with eight points.

JV:

The Junior Varsity also sits at 7-6 in district and may end the season in 4th place. Saturday's game vs. Cy-Creek came closer to resembling a MMA match than a basketball game. The Cougars used the same size and speed that the varsity displayed to bump, push, pull, and at one point swing at the Spartans. JV has some tough players, but they weren't ready for the octagon and fell 47-21. It didn't help that key contributor Kendall Zoboroski (Sophomore) picked up two early fouls and missed the rest of the first half and Junior post player Evynn Stallwitz is sidelined with an injury. Junior Lilah Epps and Sophomore Ella O'Connor each scored six to lead the team. 

The Spartans put together one of their best games of the season last time they faced Memorial, and they took down their arch-rival in the process. They faced the Mustangs again on Wednesday and clawed back from a first-half deficit of as much as eight points to close it to one. But the points were much harder to obtain in the second half, and the Spartans fell 45-32. Sophomore Ella Pezzia fueled the second quarter rally and led the team with nine points, seven rebounds and five steals. Zoboroski followed with eight points, all in the first half, plus eight rebounds. Epps had two points and seven rebounds.

Freshman:

The Freshman team is one game away from being the undefeated District Champs! Cy-Creek's freshmen did not have the same size as their varsity or JV sisters and the Spartans attacked with stellar guard play from Megan Hallmark, Katherine Cronin and Chassity Mandley. Between the trio, they limited turnovers, moved the ball, and kept the Cougars defense on their heels. Sophia Phongsy had a big week, leading the team in points scored, including 13 in this game. Emily Graydon scored seven. Cronin and Kendall Davis each scored six. 

You gotta love a Spartans team that is undefeated against Memorial and that's what the freshmen are, winning 47-36 on Wednesday. Phongsy knocked in 11 points. Davis followed with 10. Autum Rutz scored eight.