Playoff bound: Gregory-Portland girls hold off Carroll in zone playoff thriller

PORTLAND — Bella Davis was playing basketball as a freshman at West Oso when Gregory-Portland won its crossover playoff game last season to advance to the UIL playoffs for the first time in 10 years.

Davis transferred to G-P ahead of this season and quickly fit into the team's rotation by averaging more than 13 points with four rebounds and more than three assists as the Wildcats finished second in the North Zone of District 29-5A with a 24-9 record.

Davis continued to factor in the program's success on Tuesday by helping the Wildcats hold off Carroll in a District 29-5A crossover playoff thriller that came down to the final seconds.

Davis scored eight points and registered five assists, including a clutch free throw in the final seconds to help G-P secure a 36-35 win.

"It was actually really easy coming here," Davis said of her transition from West Oso to G-P. "I came over and they welcomed me like family, and I feel like I've been here my whole life.

"I love my coach, I love my teammates and we fight until the end... I'm glad we're here. I love it."

The Wildcats will play a District 29-5A seeding game against Veterans Memorial on Friday with a time, date and location to be announced.

It will be the first matchup between the Wildcats and Eagles since the 2021-2022 season.

"This is what we've been playing for and Madison (Kilgore) said it best, 'This is what we've been working for since October.' So this was huge," Gregory-Portland girls basketball coach Dejuanna "DJ" Denton said. "Obviously there were a lot of jitters and nerves because every kid on the floor hadn't been in this position before other than Madison.

"Our young kids grew up tonight. This was one of our goals and we just made the playoffs for the second year in a row. G-P has girls basketball and I think people are starting to realize that."

Gregory-Portland and Carroll were no strangers to what was at stake ahead of Tuesday's zone playoff after both teams were in a similar position last season.

The Tigers played Moody in a South Zone tiebreaker a year ago and G-P went on to defeat the Trojans to earn its spot in the playoffs.

Gregory-Portland is a younger team this season, but the leadership of Kilgore and the guidance of Denton has helped turn the program around.

"We just had to leave it all on the court," said Kilgore, who scored a game-best 11 points. "If we were going to lose, at least have no regrets. I think there were a lot of emotions, but me yelling at them made them push through even harder."

The game had a district championship feel to it after both teams traded baskets for four quarters with no team ever leading by more than five points.

Turnovers and missed free throws plagued both teams, but the game still delierved a dramatic finish with Carroll putting itself in position for a potential game-winner in the final seconds.

Elijah Hawkins and Zyria Thompson each scored seven points to lead the Tigers with Rheanna Escamilla and Jaden Lara combining for 13 points to pace G-P's offense.

"Our girls fought their butts off this season to even be in this position to play G-P in their home gym," Carroll coach Lauren Bell said. "The girls battled it out and I'm beaming with pride right now. We lost to a great, young G-P team who had great senior leadership from Kilgore and a great coaching staff. Unfortunately they were just one point better than us tonight."

Gregory-Portland's playoff opponent will be from District 30-5A, but won't be announced until after its game against Veterans Memorial. La Joya Palmview recently won the 30-5A title and wrapped up the regular season with a 30-6 record.

"It's exciting to be able to do it twice now because we (missed the playoffs) during my freshman and sophomore year," Kilgore said. "To be able to start this program back up again to what it used to be and get to the playoffs for the second straight year, it's really building it up to be one of the best programs in the area."

More: Coastal Bend high school basketball schedules, scores Feb. 5-Feb. 9

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: What we learned after Gregory-Portland's thrilling zone playoff win against Carroll