It’s been quite the week for the Howe Lady Bulldogs (6-0). All they’ve done is swoop into Whitewright and take down the Lady Tigers, 52-39 and travel to Bells to come away with the tournament championship. On Tuesday Howe, by way of a dominating defensive second quarter, put the hammer down. Howe’s 13-2 win of the that period gave the girls breathing room while Holly Hawkins started to take over the game. Hawkins scored 15 points and pulled down 5 rebounds, added two assists and one steal in route to Derek Lands’ 329th career win. Three-time District MVP Riley Harvey added 11 points and 7 rebounds. Other scorers were Peyton Streetman (8), Kayla Anderson (5), Alissa Smith (5 and 9 rebounds), Darci Foster (4), Payton Griffin (2), and Landry Rhoten (2). Rhoten made her first appearance in Whitewright after transferring from there.
On Friday in Bells, Howe would open the tournament with Honey Grove and would jump all over the Lady Warriors, 12-1 after the first period. Harvey had her first double-double of the season with 21 points and 13 rebounds on the way to a 51-43 win. Other scorers were Streetman (8), Hawkins (6), Smith (6), Foster (3), Rhoten (3), Griffin (3), and Kamryn Fulenchek (2).
Game two would see a rematch with Whitewright. The game started extremely slow offensively ending with a 5-3 Howe lead after the first period. It wasn’t the second period this time that Howe shut down the Lady Tigers, it was the third. Howe outscored Whitewright 14-4 on their way to a 44-32 tournament opening win.
Harvey busted out with 20 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Lady Bulldogs. Peyton Streetman also added 9 points and 4 boards. Other scorers were Hawkins (5), Smith (4), Foster (3), Anderson (2) and Rhoten (1). Hawkins also ripped down 7 rebounds.
In the semifinal round, Howe took on Decatur, who has 876 listed as their UIL high school enrollment compared to 302 for Howe. To break that down, that’s 574 more students – that’s roughly 287 more juniors and seniors – that’s roughly 143.5 more junior and senior girls to choose from. They couldn’t find anyone of that massive population advantage that could match the Harvey-Streetman combo that combined for 24 points and 7 steals and leading the girls to a 43-26 dominating win that saw Decatur not reach double digits in points in any of the four periods. Streetman led the team with 13 points and was followed by closely by Harvey with 11. Both were 2 of 2 from 3-point range.
Other scorers were Smith (7), Hawkins (5), Anderson (3), Foster (3), and Rhoten (1).
That would set up showdown with Bells for the championship in their home gymnasium. Howe actually trailed after the first period, 11-10 but again, the defense completely shut things down in the second by only allowing two points to Bells. Howe took a commanding 24-13 lead into the halftime dressing room.
Bells outscored the Lady Bulldogs in the second half, 20-16, but the damage was done in the second quarter and Howe hung on to a 7- point win, 40-33 and celebrated afterwards with the championship trophy in-hand.
Harvey led the Lady Bulldogs with 13 points, Smith had her best scoring night of the young season with 12. Streetman added 9 and Foster sunk a three and a bucket to total 5. Anderson rounded out the scoring with one free throw.
The girls are now 6-0 and will take time off for Thanksgiving and will not play until Dec. 1 vs. Muenster.
Peyton Streetman and Riley Harvey were named to the All-Tournament Team.