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.

Heading to State...

Day two of my roadtrip to Lubbock was a lot easier than the rush to get there on time. I had stayed up until almost 4am putting the slideshows of the two previous day's games online, but then again I'm usually up that late anyway so it's no big deal. And, since the game was at 1pm and checkout at the hotel was noon, it all worked out perfect. Saturday's regional finals game wasn't a whole lot different from the previous night's semifinal. And, that wasn't really unexpected, after having watched the second half of the second game I didn't think Wylie would have a whole lot of a problem and they didn't. They got out to another big start and never really looked back. Liberty Hill did make a little run early in the fourth quarter but the game was pretty much decided by then they weren't going to let go. I even went as far to joke with the writer that was with me that we might as well make our hotel reservations for Austin right there.

The best part about games like these are not only are they played in big arenas with great light (and good lights that don't pulse and change colors on you). But, there is always so much emotions involved. I think that what I like about shooting girls basketball so much, women's sports always involve so much more emotion than the guys' equivalent. And this one was no different, there were plenty of emotions at the end of the game.