bluesooner17
Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2010
- Messages
- 863
- Reaction score
- 3
Jones coach Jenni Holbrook has patiently waited for the moment things click for her young squad.
She had seen the ups and downs — wins, blowouts and close losses. But with five seconds remaining her sophomore guard, Bailey Ely, found an opening and banked a runner in to take the lead over Prague.
Then, the Longhorns defense forced Prague freshman star Chantae Embry into a game-ending turnover.
Jones, unranked, upset No. 3 Prague 63-61 Tuesday to close out the regular season and show a huge sign of growth entering the playoffs.
“We haven’t been able to finish games like this yet,” Holbrook said. “Our goal was just to continue to try to improve, try to get big wins and tonight was a test going into the playoffs. I’m glad we’re finishing well.”
Jones had not beaten a ranked team all season.
To get that done, it took a monster night from sophomore Caley Young, who scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
“My teammates took good shots, we were able to get open and get inside looks,” Young said.
But it was her lategame defense that really excelled.
She was outsized guarding Embry, a 6-foot-2 Oklahoma State commit who scored 30 points. Young even lost Embry late, allowing a game-tying 3 with less than 30 seconds remaining.
But Young was huge in forcing Embry to turn the ball over as time expired.
“She listened to the game plan and executed it,” Holbrook said. “How do you stop her? We don’t know. We had the Trae Young mentality going in. She’s going to get hers. How are we going to defend everybody else?”
She had seen the ups and downs — wins, blowouts and close losses. But with five seconds remaining her sophomore guard, Bailey Ely, found an opening and banked a runner in to take the lead over Prague.
Then, the Longhorns defense forced Prague freshman star Chantae Embry into a game-ending turnover.
Jones, unranked, upset No. 3 Prague 63-61 Tuesday to close out the regular season and show a huge sign of growth entering the playoffs.
“We haven’t been able to finish games like this yet,” Holbrook said. “Our goal was just to continue to try to improve, try to get big wins and tonight was a test going into the playoffs. I’m glad we’re finishing well.”
Jones had not beaten a ranked team all season.
To get that done, it took a monster night from sophomore Caley Young, who scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
“My teammates took good shots, we were able to get open and get inside looks,” Young said.
But it was her lategame defense that really excelled.
She was outsized guarding Embry, a 6-foot-2 Oklahoma State commit who scored 30 points. Young even lost Embry late, allowing a game-tying 3 with less than 30 seconds remaining.
But Young was huge in forcing Embry to turn the ball over as time expired.
“She listened to the game plan and executed it,” Holbrook said. “How do you stop her? We don’t know. We had the Trae Young mentality going in. She’s going to get hers. How are we going to defend everybody else?”
