Ladycats win Region 3, advance to state tournament

The Newcastle Ladycats’ winning season was put to the test twice over the weekend, and they answered the call both times in major ways.

Competing in the 1A Region 3 tournament held in Mansfield, the Ladycats earned a 47-28 win over Huckabay in their Friday night matchup, then blew out fellow region finalist Dodd City 55-26 to advance to the state tournament in San Antonio this upcoming week.

Emotions ran high at the conclusion of both games, but none more than the moment the Ladycats hoisted the region championship trophy after beating the Lady Hornets. Newcastle is no stranger to winning this season but these games meant something more than all the others.

“At this very moment it's like, ‘Hey, we just won another game,’” head coach Ryan Dollar said. “I know probably on the bus ride home it (will be) like, ‘Holy smokes, what are we gonna do next week?’ It's just new to all of us, but the girls, they just battle, they compete.”

Newcastle (33-1) will now set their sights on the state tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio, with their semifinal game to begin Thursday, Feb. 29 at 8:30 a.m. against Westbrook (28-9).

None of the Ladycats’ playoff games thus far have been that close and that was the case for their weekend wins, as well. Here is some information and stats for both matchups that helped propel the team to the state tournament.

Ladycats v. Huckabay, (W) 47-28

It didn’t take long for Newcastle to establish their dominance inside over the Lady Indians. Senior Mya Cabrera, in particular, spent a lot of time in the paint swatting shot attempt after shot attempt from Huckabay’s players.

The Lady Indians could get almost nothing going in the lane and struggled to knock down shots as the rest of Newcastle’s defense was active and quick to shut down offensive opportunities. This helped spur the Ladycats as the offense took a bit of time to truly get in a groove.

After the first quarter, Newcastle led 11-6 thanks to a handful of shots inside and a 3-pointer from freshman Kenzie King. It felt like the Ladycats could have scored even more but the shots weren’t falling in the beginning.

Despite the somewhat slim lead, the Ladycats were clearly in control and they continued to maintain that lead into the second quarter. The Lady Indians brought a full-court press defense for the rest of the game and while it caused some problems occasionally, the Ladycats were ready for it.

Newcastle’s lead continued to increase by the end of each quarter. At halftime, the Ladycats led 20-13, a seven-point lead, then after the third quarter they led 35-23 before winning the game by 19 points.

The Ladycats were led by Cabrera and junior Mattie Dollar, who finished with 16 points and 19 points, respectively. King and freshman Camren Mallory each had 5 points with sophomore Sophie Terrell contributing 2 points.

Ladycats v. Dodd City, (W) 55-26

What was supposed to be the toughest opponent of the season to date turned into one of Newcastle’s biggest playoff wins by means of scoring margin. A 29-point win against a regional finalist is impressive in every way.

It started, once again, with Newcastle’s defense. Coach Dollar has said one of his team’s mottoes all year has been that if the other team can’t score, they can’t win; and the Ladycats made sure of that.

In the opening quarter, Newcastle built up a 12-2 lead. Dodd City didn’t score until more than three minutes into the game and didn’t score again for the rest of the quarter. Meanwhile, Dollar knocked down a 3-pointer to get the game started with Cabrera, Mallory and King contributing to the big early lead.

The Ladycats continued to frustrate the Lady Hornets’ offense all night. Dodd City tried their best to drive past Newcastle for layups but they were stopped at every turn. Meanwhile, the Ladycats’ offense was firing on all cylinders as multiple players scored inside and out and they shared the ball with ease.

“They're getting better and better at communicating and helping on the screens and just talking to each other and doing those types of things on the offensive end,” Coach Dollar said. “We're sharing the ball so well, rebounding the ball. It's great when you can have two or three or four, six people score, so I think we're getting to that point slowly, but surely.”

Cabrera finished as the leading scorer with 23 points while Dollar had 21 points. Mallory finished with 5 points, King had 4 points and Terrell had 2 points. The Ladycats recorded 16 assists as a team, over half of the team’s baskets made in the game.

Newcastle ran away with the win, even getting a lot of reserve players into the game in the final minutes to close out the victory. Now the Ladycats are just two wins away from a potential state championship.

“We're going to enjoy the rest of today and we're going to enjoy tomorrow, and (when) we come back on Monday we'll just get back to work,” Coach Dollar said.