It took a dramatic 3-point shot by senior Randi Thompson, and 5 extra minutes, but when the Redhawks beat Lone Star on Saturday, it sealed their trip to San Antonio where they will play Kerrville Tivy Thursday night.

It’s the second time in four years the team has advanced to the state tournament but for head coach Ross Reedy, Thompson’s shot is unlike anything he’s experienced.

“For me, for that little brief 12 seconds, I wasn’t a coach, I was a fan. And so for me, it was just, ‘wow, this is unbelievable.’ I have not been around, I’ve been around this game for a long time as a player and as a coach, and I have not been of anything, on any side, loser or winner, of anything like that,” Reedy said. “So, it was blank initially and then after that was ‘I know we are not gonna lose now.’ It was back and forth the whole game, but going back into that, especially going back into our huddle, Randi’s got, Randi is tearing up, and KK, who is becoming more and more of a leader as the season has progressed is shutting everybody up telling ‘hey, we still got time, we still got work to do’ and I just knew this was gonna be a fun overtime.”  

While the outcome of any season is always unknown, reaching state has been a goal since the team’s first practice in October.  

“I mean it was definitely one of our goals this year and we just had to keep working hard every single day to achieve it,” senior Kelsey Kurak said. “I think what Randi said towards the middle year we started to realize how talented and good we were and so it definitely became a reality especially moving on to playoffs.”

Although the game is 300 miles away, the team hopes to keep preparation as routine as possible.

“You try to get the most out of everyday, and try to stay as routine as possible,” Reedy said. “So tomorrow we get up and we practice, and then just take an extra long bus ride.”  

Although the team will try to keep their routine, routine, the ultimate goal is winning.

“The hard part is reminding yourself, look we’re here to win basketball games,” Reedy said. “We’re not here to be in the Alamodome,  we’re not here to go to the Riverwalk, and keeping that in mind, which I know our kids will, I mean, there is full intention on going there and being successful.”

The team has been preparing for the game with the hopes of going into it with confidence.

“It’s definitely the goal,” Kurak said. “Coach Reedy prepares us really well for all of our games so we are very confident going into this game and I think we have a really shot of winning it. “

The team has been focusing on working hard leading up to the game.

“I don’t want to say expecting, we’re definitely gonna work,” Thompson said. “We want to win for sure, winning is always the goal, we are going to make sure to do what we have to do to get the job done.”

For six seniors on the team, the road to state is familiar.

“I think it’s going to help us a lot,” Kurak said. “Freshman year we were really overwhelmed, not surprised but overwhelmed. I think now we know what to expect and know that it’s basically just another game, in just a different gym and I think it will really work to our advantage.”

The past experience at state has helped them know what to expect at the game.

“It definitely will help because when we got there, we were just so surprised in the like the atmosphere,” Thompson said. “I don’t want to say it messed with the way we played, but we were more excited and not expecting how it was going to be, but now that we know what we are going to see, it’s better for us, and we will be more prepared.”