The Lady Timberwolves varsity basketball team attended the Austin Bowie Be-YOU-Tiful Classic tournament on Nov. 14-16. This was the team’s first official tournament of the upcoming season, and even though they had only a few players, the Wolves took away a championship and had two players named on the all-tournament team. 

“We didn’t have a lot of preparation before the games, but we were able to adjust on-the-fly to the competition,” senior player Megan Pish said. “That ability will help during the upcoming tournaments when we have very little time to watch the film and study up on the opposing teams. Since we returned eight to varsity this year, we have a lot of experience, but the younger girls are still raw players who need experience. The tournaments will expose the girls to higher levels of varsity play before district games.” 

During the Bowie tournament, only eight players from the Cedar Park girls varsity basketball team were healthy enough to play in the games. Seniors Megan Pish and Takara Holst, and freshman Shelby Hayes were unable to play due to injuries that prohibited them from stepping onto the court during the tournament. On Thursday, the first official day of the tournament, the Lady Wolves played the 2018 state champions in the 6A division, Judson High School, and won 46-36. In their next game of the day, the team played their rivals from last season, Laredo United. 

“Laredo is a very short team, but extremely scrappy to play against,” senior player Nicole Leff said. Nevertheless, the Lady Wolves emerged victorious with a final score of 76-55, setting a precedent for their upcoming season to conquer past challenges on the court.

On Friday, the team faced their only loss of the tournament against Plano East High School and lost by seven points. 

“We were down 14 points at the end of the third quarter, but the thing about our team is we don’t give up, and we got the lead down to five, but they kept making free throws and we ended up losing the game 48-55,” said Leff. 

The Lady Wolves pushed forward despite their loss, and ended up winning the championship in the silver division of the tournament. Their first game of the day was against O’Connor High School.

“It was a close game until the fourth quarter and we pulled away after struggling from foul trouble from all five starters,” Leff said. After that win, the team faced McKinney High School in the championship game and won by just three points, the final score of the game was 57-54. 

Following the games of the tournament, Leff and freshman position Giselle Maul made the all-tournament team, which means that they were voted as the best players out of all the teams at the tournament.

“It felt great knowing that I impressed the people well enough to where they considered me one of the best players in the tournament,” Maul said. “I think I did my role on the team, nothing too extra, I just played well throughout the tournament,” 

On Nov. 21-23, the team attends their first invitational tournament, the McDonald’s Texas Invitational Tournament, and hopes to continue their win streak in Pasadena. 

“It’s a blessing to be invited to the best tournament in the state, considering we are 5A,” senior Takara Holst said. “We’re looking forward to the competition and the experience as a whole.”