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Seniors and parents were honored before the home finale, but the victory, which would have made the night a big success, did not happen. A strong consolation prize emerged, though, February 2, as Vandegrift defeated Rouse, and the Llano Ladies clinched a playoff berth for the 11th consecutive year. They will meet either China Spring or Gatesville, in bidistrict, probably February 15 or 16.

The Jackets very much wanted a win over a talented Liberty Hill five (or should that be ten?), but the Panthers shook off a rally by the hosts and won with authority, 52-37.

“The kids played hard, like they always do,” head coach Jessica Jendrzey said, “and we made a run, thought we had a chance, and then turnovers hurt us badly.”

Kathryn Looney made the most of her last game in the Llano gym with a pair of three-point field goals in the second quarter. These were plenty significant considering Liberty Hill constructed a 28-16 lead with under six minutes to go in the third period. The Kat had given her team one of her nine lives.

When Ashley Schroeder hit four free throws late in the third, the Panther advantage had cratered to 30-26. “…it’s amazing the game is this close,” said the radio guy.

“I was nervous at that point,” Liberty Hill head coach Matt Kirschner advised, but we picked it up defensively. Also, I yelled a little, and they fed off my intensity.”

More like a feeding frenzy. The “Kat” on the other team, Johnson, got a field goal, and then point-guard Jessica Green mailed in a three. As if those belts to the belly weren’t bad enough, Taylor Russell stole an inbounds pass and beat the buzzer with a hoop. Tally? Seven points in about 40 seconds and a 37-26 lead.

“It was a very physical game, a hard game,” Schroeder noted, “but we just can’t let a run like that happen.” Ashley, one of the tri-captains consumed with emotion in this last waltz across a hardwood she knows as well as her living room, fouled out—so did the other two, Olivia Hutto and Allie Rostron. How’s that for irony, fate, symmetry, anomaly, and “what a bummer.” Rostron left the last 15 points of her scoring-at-home on the floor and made a peaceful, temper-in-check walk to the sidelines, despite the crowd’s displeasure with the interpretation of her fifth foul.

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Coach J had problems with how her team played on the offensive end. “We didn’t move the ball from side to side; we held it too much; we passed up open perimeter shots, and we didn’t get the ball to Allie enough. She played a heck of a game.”

More irony and the rest of those superfluous words: Ashley, who had just one field goal, hit her last seven free throws. Rostron missed her last seven, but her five field goals were one more than the rest of the team had combined. Uh, oh.

In case you thought I had left you in the stands hiding that bag of popcorn, the 37-26 lead ballooned to 44-26 and 51-31. Ten Panthers scored. “All year I’ve had confidence in 10-12 girls,” Kirschner explained. “I never know when I might need them.” He likes to shuttle in five reserves several times a game, and there wasn’t much drop off—not enough drop off—against Llano.

“Parents Night made me want to work harder,” Schroeder asserted. “A lot of people came to see us, so that was another reason the result was disappointing.

“I wanted this one so badly, one of the most of my career. Fouling out meant I was not in for the end, which is a favorite part of the game for me. Just didn’t happen.”

“I wasn’t negative in the locker room,” said Jendrzey. “If I am, the girls will pick up on that. We have the playoffs to look forward to, and about half the schools in the state cannot say that. We’ll be refocused.

“I know we’ll be ready for the postseason; district and non-district games have prepared us for the playoffs. We can regain some satisfaction by going further in the state tournament than Liberty Hill does.”

“We have to move on,” Schroeder said in summation. “We have to get stronger from this setback.”