McCallum girls go old school to contain Navarro 47-42 in key District 24-5A showdown
Emy Chen scored 19 points, Miranda DiGiovanni added 17 and Sam Cowles scored six of her eight points in the fourth quarter as first-place McCallum beat second-place Navarro 47-42 in a District 24-5A showdown Friday night.
McCallum (19-9, 11-0) outscored Navarro 11-2 in the final 2 minutes, 29 seconds.
Also, LASA pulled into a second-place tie with Navarro by taking a 41-23 win over Ann Richards.
An old-school defensive tactic by McCallum coach Carly Kehn played a huge role in the Knights' victory as she used a triangle-and-two defense against Navarro standout Paulete Mbuangi. Two Knights defenders followed Mbuangi everywhere on both ends of the court. Despite facing ever-present double and triple teams in the paint, Mbuangi finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and four steals.
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“We kept two players on her everywhere she went," Kehn said. "She is gifted and one-on-one nearly unstoppable. We wanted to deny her the ball whenever possible."
The strategy was effective as all of Mbuangi’s points came off rebounds, end-to-end plays or offensive put-backs as Navarro was unable to get the ball to her in its normal rotations.
Chen, Cowles and DiGiovanni each had stellar moments, and Kehn was quick to credit their calm and court presence, especially when the Knights fell behind 40-36 in the final minutes of the game.
“Emily is just superb; she is calm and confident and does an amazing job of controlling the ball. Sam did a great job on the boards and was huge when we went inside during that fourth-quarter rally, and Miranda handled ball pressure really well, and she hit clutch free throws for us,” Kehn said.
Navarro coach John Nelson has built the Vikings into a very competitive team, and they played with purpose as they trailed 17-10 after a quarter but narrowed the gap to four points at 23-19 going into the half. The Vikings started the second half with 3-point baskets from Crystal Shaw, Laela Diaz and Mbuangi to take their first lead. Navarro used the rebounding and scoring of Mbuangi to widen the margin to 34-29 as the Vikings outscored McCallum 15-6 in the third period.
Mbuangi and Cowles traded baskets as the Vikings led 36-31, but Chen hit a driving layup and Riley Norris swished a 3-point shot to tie the game. Mbuangi and Shaw hit baskets as Navarro opened a 40-36 lead, but McCallum answered with five points by DiGiovanni, four by Cowles and two by Chen in the 11-2 run that gave the first-place Knights the victory.
In LASA's win over Ann Richards, Kyndall Johnson scored 15 points, Carly Gonzales added 11 and Eliza Starche had 10. LASA jumped ahead 10-3 in the first quarter and limited the Stars to a seven-point first half.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: McCallum girls basketball team tops Navarro 47-42 in district showdown
