3A State Semifinals...

While I realize I spend most of my time in December bitching about basketball on here, there is no question that this time of year I really come to love basketball. Mostly because at this time of year every team that I shoot is pretty good, which usually makes for good photos. And, the icing on the cake is going to Austin for the state basketball tournament. It's always fun to shoot for a bunch of different reasons.

The Erwin Center is a first class facility for college basketball, so needless to say when they play a high school game there it can't help but be great. Since these are the last games of the year there is no holding back, and I'm busting my rear to make the absolute best possible images that I can. That means using a remote, as well as mixing things up and shooting from somewhere other than just the baseline. Another great thing I like about it is the 3A semifinal games are in the middle of the afternoon. Having no deadline pressures is always a good thing.

Wylie was playing Liberty Hill, a team that they had beaten two years ago in their first trip to state on this run. However, after the game against Kennedale, I didn't see any way that they were going to be losing either of their two games in Austin. But, then again, there is no winning games on paper. After all that's why they play the games right? From the start it was obvious what Liberty Hill's strategy was, stop Peyton Little and make the other players win the game. Well, they did hold her scoreless through the first quarter, but the problem was the other half of the strategy wasn't working, all of the double-teams on Little were leaving someone else open on the court, and Little who was doing much of the ball-handling was finding the open players, who in turn were hitting the shots. Liberty Hill did a good job of staying in the game, but there was still never really any doubt of who was going to win the game and Wylie was on its way to the state championship game for the third year in a row, and trying to defend last year's championship.