The Lady Eagles defeated Liberty Hill in the finals of the state girls basketball tournament with a final score of 40-30, making them the back-to-back-to-back champions in the 4A UIL State Championship on March 4, 2017.

Having played Liberty Hill before, the bench knew that they would have to play well to make the win.

“We were playing a really good team, a team that knows us very well. We’ve beaten them two times,” said Head Coach Skip Townsend.

Argyle began the first quarter off strong with a three made by freshman Brooklyn Carl (11) making this the first shot attempt and success by the Lady Eagles making the score 3-0. At 2:39 Jocelyn Pierce (10) pushes for two and successfully makes it to the basket updating the score to 5-0.

“They don’t let you make mistakes,” Coach Chris Lange of the Liberty Hill Lady Panthers said.

With two minutes left in the first quarter Liberty Hill’s Sedona Prince (23) added points to the board by making a successful jumper, followed by a layup making the score 5-4 . In the final seconds of the first quarter Liberty Hill’s Kandyn Faurie (32)  made a contestable three pointer in the final seconds ending the first quarter with a score of 7-7.

Starting a rocky second quarter, Liberty Hill’s Andrea House (03) fouled on Carl (11) giving her two free throw attempts and successes bringing the score up to 9-7. After the Eagles’ defensive rebound and a foul on Prince (23) the Panthers called a timeout with 3:34 left on the clock in the first half. A defensive rebound by Gray (12) at late in the second quarter and a pass out set up Standifer (33) to shoot a successful three. With one second left on the clock, Standifer (33) made a three, ending the second quarter with the Lady Eagles maintaining a 17-13 lead.

“We had one goal in mind and that was to make state again and win the state championship,” Standifer said.

The second half of the state game began with just as much intensity as the first. Gray (12) pulled in an offensive rebound and put up a layup which made the score 19-13. The Panthers went on to foul twice, which brought Madison Ralston (22) to the line to shoot two successful free throws. With two seconds left, Prince (23) missed a three that left the score at 28-22, Argyle in the lead.

“This year, every practice has been ten times more intense,” Pierce said. “We just took it game by game.”

During the fourth period, the Panthers worked hard to match the Eagles’ lead. Liberty Hills’ Bethany McLeod (10) started off by making a layup, which was answered immediately by another three from Standifer (33).  After a timeout by the Eagles, Liberty Hills’ Kasye Bevers (10) fouled Sophie Betzhold (14) . Gray made two more free throws with one second left on the board, which brought an end to her high school career and pushed the Lady Eagles to 40 points, ending the game with the Lady Eagles win with final score of 40-30 over the Liberty Hill Lady Panthers.

“I think the feeling is better this year because we are going out on a win. That is what we have wanted to do since we were freshmen, we have always wanted to win a State Championship, we got the three-peat and we were legendary,” Senior Vivian Gray said.