Averi Aaron and Abby Smith carried the Boerne High girls basketball team to this year’s 4A state tournament after the two seniors put the Lady Greyhounds on their back in Saturday’s Region IV-4A championship game against Fredericksburg.
BHS was trailing 24-16 when the fourth quarter q started but Smith and Aaron took over and combined for 14 of their 15 points in the period to lead a 15-5 run that gave Boerne the 31-29 victory.
It’s Boerne’s third regional title in four seasons and they’ll return to the Alamodome Friday to play in the 4A state semifinals.
The Greyhounds play Canyon Friday at 3 p.m. The winner advances to Saturday’s championship game at 7 p.m.
BHS coach Amy Ruede said her team refused to lose.
“I was proud of our fight because there were times when the kids could have given up but we talked about playing to the end, they never laid down,” she said. “(When the fourth quarter started) we talked about playing the best quarter of Boerne basketball that we’ve played all year, being true to us and playing for each other.”
That’s exactly what Boerne did. Aaron scored the first six points of the fourth and the lead was down to two points at 24-22.
Smith then drained a 3-pointer with 4:15 left to complete a 9-0 run that gave Boerne a 25-24 edge. It was their first lead since the second quarter.
Fred stopped Boerne’s run after they were fouled on a 3-pointer and hit 2 of the 3 free throws with 3:54 remaining retake the lead at 26-25, but Aaron answered with another 2-pointer and the Lady Hounds were back on top at 27-26 with 2:33 left.
The Billies hit a 3 with 2:10 on the clock and pulled ahead 29-27 but Smith fired what ended up being a game winner with 43 ticks left when she drained a dagger 3 and Boerne took a 30-29 lead and never trailed from there.
The Smith 3-pointer was the fifth lead change of the quarter as the teams battled to the end.
Aaron blocked a shot on Fred’s next trip down the court as Boerne’s defense held the Billies to just 5 points in the final stanza. Coach Ruede said they take pride in their defense.
“Defense is something we really hang our hats on,” the coach said. “We got them on their heels in the fourth quarter and they never recovered.”
After the Aaron block, Jenna Ruede was fouled and went to the line and made 1 of 2 to bump the lead to 31-29 with 28 seconds remaining.
After that, the Billies missed a 3 that would have given them the lead and Smith rebounded with 10 ticks.
Smith was fouled and missed both but Boerne pressured Fred as they tried to bring the ball up court and the Billies didn’t get a good look at the basket and launched a long 3 from their side of the court that missed to give BHS the win.
Coach Ruede said they’re ready for state against Canyon, a team that has been to the tournament 29 times, compared to five for BHS.
“With our bigs inside and our ability to handle the ball at the perimeter, we can hang,” she said.
Aaron finished with 14 points and scored 12 in the second half, 8 in the fourth. Aaron battled foul trouble in the first half and only had 2 points at the break.
Smith tallied 8 points and hit the two 3s in the fourth for 6 of those points, Jenna Ruede finished with 5 points, Chloe Donnell hit a 3 in the first for 3 points and Savannah Salinas made a free throw as every point counted.
Region semifinals
Boerne defeated West Oso, 60-36, Friday in Kingsville in the regional semifinals to set up Saturday’s contest with Fredericksburg.
Averi Aaron had a big game with 26 points, Abby Smith scored 17, Jenna Ruede netted 9, Addison Palluch finished with 5 and Chloe Donnell chipped in with 3.
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