News & Announcements

Roadrunners Compete in Regional Finals and Boys Head to State

By Corey Horton

The 2016-2017 basketball season has been an exciting one! Both the girls and boys teams played in the Regional Finals on February 25th. After a close and exhilarating game against Shiner St. Paul, the girls were defeated by their opponent and ended their successful season with a 24-10 record.

The boys beat Conroe Convenant in a thrilling game that advanced them to the State Semi-Finals! We are excited for our players as they compete to be repeat State Champions.

The Semi-Final games, Lubbock All Saints vs Richardson Canyon Creek play at 6 pm and AWS vs Huntsville Alpha Omega play at 8 pm on Thursday, March 2nd in the Moody Coliseum on the campus of Abilene Christian University, 1600 Campus Ct, Abilene, TX 79601.

The State Championship Game will be played on Friday, March 3rd at 5 pm at the same location.

In order to accommodate students and families who wish to support our players in this momentous occasion, it has been decided that all high school classes will be cancelled on Friday, March 3rd.  Cancelling class will give families and friends the chance to travel to Abilene (between 3.5 – 4.0 hrs) and cheer loud and proud for our Roadies!!!!  We are looking forward to having a large contingent of supporters.

Good Luck to Coach Terrill and our Austin Waldorf Roadrunners.

Read below for a play by play recap of the boys and girls regional games and a preview of what the boys will face in the Final Four.

AWS Boys 58, Conroe Covenant 36

The Roadrunners proved their Conroe tournament win over Covenant was no fluke, using a 2nd quarter ending 14-0 run to build a 15 point halftime lead that the Cougars would never get down to single digits. Toby Marek led all scorers with 22 points, while Connor Horton added 19 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks.

The game started out as a 3-point shooting contest as nerves showed on both sides. After six and a half minutes of play, Waldorf led 12-9 as the Roadies made four out o nine 3-pointers to the Cougars’ 3 of 4. Conroe was struggling against the Roadrunner defense with six first quarter turnovers and missing their first 5 interior shots with all of them blocked or affected by Connor on the inside. A late offensive rebound and layup by Andrew Bell (2 pts, 8 rebounds), finished the quarter on a high note and a 16-11 lead.

The second quarter saw the slow start continue for the Roadrunners, but you could see the beginning of a pattern forming. The middle of the defense remained solid as they only had one inside basket in the first half and that was in transition. But the press was giving Conroe opportunities to hit 3-pointers in transition and after their second straight 3 tied the game at 17. Coach Terrill decided it was time for a change and shifted to the defense to focus on an aggressive extended zone that coach calls “tight bump”.

The Roadrunners extended the lead from 19-18 to 26-18 with 3 minutes left in the half when Conroe called timeout. In this huddle, Coach Terrill emphasized not only the “tight bump” defense, but the need for the offense to be aggressive and attack the basket to open up opportunities on offense. The Roadies came out of the huddle energized and finished off the half with 7 more points for a 14-0 run, holding the Cougars to a couple of altered inside attempts and three turnovers in the final 3 minutes.

The Cougars showed signs of life at the start of the 3rd quarter, making a quick 3 and finally getting a shot over Connor to close the lead to 33-23. The game would go back and forth from there with Ben Callahan (8 pts) and Toby each hitting 3-pointers and Connor getting an inside basket to get the lead to 41-27. And then came the play that took the spirit out of the Cougars. Their senior leader stole the ball with Toby in hot pursuit. Instead of going up strong, he decided to avoid Toby and pass to a teammate who also felt pressured by Toby and passed it back to #2 who was standing out of bounds.

From there, Toby and Connor would score 7 and 6 points each and Ben would put the exclamation point on the win with a flying rebound and putback that had the crowd on its feet and the Roadrunners ready to relax with a 56-30 lead. The only thing left was to run out the clock and cheer on Goodwin Bell getting his first points of the year on a fast break assist from Aidan Cormier.

With the win, the boys advance to their third straight Final Four, this year held at Abilene Christian University March 2-3. They will face off with #2 Huntsville Alpha Omega (34-3) in the semifinals Thursday at 8pm.

Stay tuned to updates on the Roadrunners quest to repeat as state champions, that will come via the aws-families and aws-sports mailing lists, or follow @sports_aws on twitter or “Austin Waldorf Basketball” on Facebook.

AWS Girls 30, Shiner St. Paul 39

All season long, the Roadrunners beat their opponents with a smothering defense. On Saturday, February 25th, the Roadrunners got a taste of their own medicine as the Cardinals of Shiner St Paul took the Roadrunners out of their game with a tough press, and then were opportunistic in finding key baskets on the press break and offensive rebounds on their way to a 39-30 defeat of the Roadrunners and a trip to the TAPPS 2A Final Four.

The Roadrunners would never look right on offense, committing 28 turnovers in the first 28 minutes of the game as they struggled with the Cardinals press and their own feet that sometimes seem to be moving before they dribbled. The three point shooting that had carried them to many victories throughout the year deserted them this day as they would make just a single 3-pointer on the day.

For most of the first quarter, the Roadrunners looked like the better team but one suffering from jitters. The Roadrunners defense would smother the Cardinals, who would score 4 of their 6 points on steals leading to layups, and only 2 points from their set offense. But the Roadrunners would trail 5-6 after the first quarter as they missed three 3-pointers, four layups, and committed 7 turnovers.

It would be the Cardinals who would settle down first, and opened the 2nd quarter with an 11-2 run to take a 17-7 lead. Nine of the points were the direct result of the Cardinal ability to break our press. At the same time, the Roadie offense continued to struggle with 9 turnovers in the quarter. The Roadrunners would score the last 4 points of the half to close to 11-17 at halftime.

Shiner would score the first basket of the 3rd quarter and the Roadrunners committed turnovers on their first 3 possessions. And then when we broke the press for a basket, they quickly answered with a putback of an offensive rebound to keep an 8 point lead. But the Roadrunners showed that they had plenty of fight left in them. A nifty pass from senior Alexa Kichuk to a driving Sophie Laird sparked a rally. Two possessions later, Sophie Laird would hit our only 3-pointer of the game (on her way to a team-high 8 points) to close within 3.

Two free throws would stall the rally. And each time Shiner had the ball, the Roadies would come so close to stealing the ball, but were never quite able to get the steals that would lead to easy baskets. But the battle continued, over two consecutive plays, we picked up the 3rd and 4th foul on their best player, sending her to the bench. With 1:30 left in the 3rd, Emma Olson would hit 2 free throws (on her way to a team-high 8 points) and close the lead to 23-22, the lead felt within our grasp. The crowd cheered “defense” loudly with every possession. The Roadies would get two straight turnovers and good looks at a score. But Emma’s 3 footer would rim out, and Sophie would get called for a travel before banking in a shot. And St. Paul would get an offensive rebound putback (again) as the final score of the 3rd quarter, ending it at 22-25.

Hopes were still high at that point, but the lid would seal on the Roadrunner basket in the 4th quarter, even as they played their best offensive quarter, and St. Paul would make just enough key plays to put us away. At the 6 minute mark, another inside bucket made it 22-27. Olivia Marek made 1 of 2 free throws as part of her 4 points. And on the next possession, we would miss the front end of the 1 and 1, get the rebound, but miss the layup. Then, we would steal the ball, miss an open 3, get the rebound, and miss an open shot. And then, we play tough defense, force a miss, but the shooter jumped into our defense and we were called for the foul, and the shooter made both free throws to extend the St Paul lead to 6 with 4:30 to play. Emma would score on our possession to cut it to 4, but again St. Paul would answer, running 45 seconds on the clock before hitting a 10 footer that took the wind out of our sails completely.

The rest of the game would be a game of keep away as St Paul ran clock and when fouled made their free throws, while the Roadrunners could not buy a shot. The lead would extend to 11 before a late flurry closed the gap. When the dust settled, St. Paul had beaten us at our own game, 39-30, and it would be the Cardinals advancing to the Final Four.

The Roadrunners (24-10) had an excellent season, winning their third straight district title for the first time in school history, bringing home the coveted Conroe Tournament championship, and advancing to the state quarterfinals for the fourth time in five years. Five seniors played their last home game for the Roadrunners and we will miss cheering on Eliza Callahan, Sophie Laird, Alexa Kichuk, Dulce Osoria-Rivera and Soren Kernan. Next year, the team will rebuild around a strong core returning in Emma and Risa Olson, Olivia Marek, and Miranda Sekel.

Boys Final Four Preview

The Final Four this year features four of the top five ranked schools in TAPPS 2A. We will face two foes that are familiar to us and one that is a complete unknown. As the top-ranked team and defending champion, the Roadrunners are clearly the team to beat, but as we have already seen, the championship run will be tougher this year.

The Roadrunner’s semifinal opponent is Huntsville Alpha Omega (34-3), the #2 ranked team in the state. The Lions are the third straight opponent from district 6. The Lions won the district by sweeping Conroe Covenant (by 23 and 3 points) and splitting with Bryan Allen Academy (a 1 point win and 15 point loss). This is the Lions second straight trip to the Final Four. Last year they lost to finalist Bryan Brazos Christian by double digits in the semifinals. The Lions come into this semi final after an impressive season of 34-3.

If the Roadrunners beat the Lions, they will face the winner of #5 Richardson Canyon Creek vs #4 Lubbock All-Saints. Canyon Creek returns all their players from last year’s team that gave the Roadrunners their toughest test in the 2016 championship run. There is some story to tell with Canyon Creek as they had to forfeit all their games before district play. However, they dominated their district and then took out #3 Denton Calvary(27-2) by a 58-57 score in the quarterfinals. Lubbock All-Saints play far from our stomping grounds and we have no common opponents with them. We won’t have more information on them until they play their first semifinal at 6pm on Thursday, March 2nd, just before the Roadrunners-Lions tip off at 8pm.