It is official, the Redhawks are headed to state in search of their second consecutive 5A state championship title after beating McKinney North 69-52 Friday and Princeton 53-26 on Saturday at the Curtis Culwell Center. 

“McKinney North was probably one of our better games all year,” head coach Ross Reedy said. “They’re [a] really talented bunch that I thought was very capable of going to the state tournament and possibly winning it. To start off the fourth [quarter] with a 15 point run, it said a lot about our character.”

Having played the night before, the Redhawks started Saturday’s game against Princeton slow, ending the first quarter trailing 10-9. Despite being down, sophomore five-star athlete Jacy Abii brought the energy back in the second quarter putting up eight points giving the Redhawks the lead and helping propel the team to a 53-26 win.

“We were beat down from the night before [against] McKinney North,” Reedy said. “They play so hard [and] they’re coached hard, and so we expect that drag, [but] we didn’t hope it was like that. So certainly not an excuse built in there, as Princeton made things tough on us. So we were just like hey, energy’s got to pick up, and we knew that once the energy picked up, we would be in a better position to be successful.”

Reflecting on the slow start, senior Judy Aluga believes that is something they need to work on moving forward.

“I think we are more of a second half team currently and in our upcoming games at state, this could cost us a game,” she said. “I do think we need to work on playing well even in the first half.”

The Redhawks now have only three days to prepare before their first game on Thursday in the State semifinals against Richmond Randle in San Antonio. If the girls are to win, they will advance to the final on Saturday. 

“It’s gonna be a lot of preparation on our game plans, and then making sure that we can put the ball in the cup,” Reedy said. “So we’re gonna shoot a lot and will give them a visual picture of what it’s going to look like out on the court, but probably not super heavy on the legs.”

Playing for her second straight championship, Aluga expects nothing less out of herself and her teammates. 

“After our championship win last year, and our four state runs before that, it honestly feels like going to state is the expectation for us,” Aluga said. “It feels good knowing that I get to have this experience one last time with this team and I’m excited to get another gold medal.”