The girls basketball team opened defense of their 2020 5A state championship unranked, and having to beat the #24 team in 5A McKinney North.

“We finished third in our district, but we are still coming to come hard at you,” Owens-Barrett said in the Dallas Morning News. “We don’t care if we’re the underdogs.”

She and the rest of the Redhawks backed it up as the team upset the Bulldogs 29-27 Thursday night at Denton Braswell High School.

It didn’t start off well for the Redhawks as they trailed at halftime 16-9. 

“We had planned on them playing in our face,” head coach Ross Reedy. “They sagged off of us still and basically challenged us to shoot the basketball. We didn’t shoot particularly well in the first half and so we became flustered.”

The Redhawks used the halftime break to change their gameplan, and to play more offensively. 

“We only tell them two things [at halftime] basically to get a little bit more movement,” Reedy said. “And maybe some of those gaps will open up. And we got to continue to be aggressive on the perimeter so those shots will start to go, and if not, well offensive rebounding.” 

The halftime changes were noticeable seconds into the second half as the Redhawks drained four consecutive 3-pointers, two by senior Lily Ziemkiewicz, and two by junior Jazzy Owens-Barnett for a 21-16 lead. 

“Fortunately, four of our first five possessions we hit four three pointers,” Reedy said. “And so the game changed quickly from us being seven down to us being five up and obviously that was complemented by the fact that we were playing good defense and not getting stopped.” 

The Redhawks take on the winner of Friday’s game between Carrollton Newman Smith and Adamson early next week with the date, time, and location to be determined. 

“You know, we are just enjoying the time that we have together,” Reedy said. “You know all time regardless if we get another four weeks or if we get another four days.