Texas high school girls basketball: See updates from 2024 UIL state championship games
Shallowater takes Class 3A title in OT
Shallowater and Huntington played neck and neck the whole way in the Class 3A state championship game on Saturday at the Alamodome.
The game even went to overtime after a miracle 35-foot shot that was banked in by Huntington’s Harleigh Havard at the fourth quarter buzzer to tie the game.
But Shallowater dominated the overtime to take a 54-49 win over Huntington and claim its third title in eight trips to the state tournament.
Neither team led by more than seven points the entire game with Shallowater (28-12) leading almost the entire first half. Havard hit a three-quarter court shot at the halftime buzzer to give the Devilettes a 24-22 lead.
Huntington (36-7) led the entire second half until Addison Pitts hit a free throw with 51 seconds left in regulation gave the Fillies a 43-42 lead. Pitts hit two more free throws with seven seconds left, but the foul was on Huntington’s best player, Kyra Anderson, who fouled out on the play.
Anderson led the Devilettes with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, five blocked shots and four steals. Anderson had 28 points in the semifinals.
Harvard took an inbound pass with four ticks remaining, almost had the ball taken away, then threw up the shot to tie the game at 45.
Keelie Williams, who led Shallowater with 13 points and was named the Championship Game Most Valuable Player, hit a pair of threes in the overtime to help put the game away.
Carli Buckley added 12 points for Shallowater while Maggie Grimes had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Fillies. Lexi Litton had 10 for Huntington and Harvard had six points, all on the two long buzzer beaters, and eight rebounds.
The Fillies tied a Class 3A tournament record with two other teams (Wall in 2010 and Ozona in 1996) recording 20 steals.
Shallowater, which was unranked by the TABC at season’s end, won it all in 2020, the last time the Fillies made it to state, and also took home a title in 2004.
No. 22 Huntington was making its first trip to a state-title game in its first trip to the tournament. The Devilettes magical season ends after upsetting No. 1 Fairfield, 42-41, in the Region III final to get to state.
Fairfield was the two-time defending state champions who had reached the title game for four consecutive years.
