San Antonio, TX-

The young high school hoops season continues to embark as our staff was on hand for a highly anticipated non-district match-up between the ladies of Johnson HS and Harlan HS.

Both clubs are littered with young talent and it was the Lady Jags who would establish themselves with a strong 2nd quarter performance, outscoring the Lady Hawks, 26-15, and using that to propel them to a 37-25 halftime lead.

Trailing by two points, sophomore Ja’Shelle Johnson would race down the center of the court and finish with a left handed layup to tie it all up at 20 a piece. From that point she would add a triple, and teammates Kylee Norman and Angelina Tumberllo would also connect from behind the arc. Right before the halftime buzzer, Norman would pick up a dime on a perfectly arched pass on a pick and roll to Ashely Brown as she dove to the hoop and banked in the layup before time expired. Johnson closed the first half on a 17-5 run, and would sustain that lead in order to eventually preserve the “W”, 66-52.

Norman led all scorers with 21 points officially, and added 3 rebounds, and 2 steals (unofficially). The quick firing guard connected on three treys and showed the ability to catch and shoot, or get by Harlan defenders by putting the ball on the floor and used a soft touch on her mid-range.

Ja'Shelle Johnson would finish with 19pts, and teammate Sierra McDermed who was scoreless in the first half,  would have a very strong second stanza to nearly finish with a double-double, 11pts and 9rebs (unofficially).

Credit to the Lady Hawks who battled back, narrowing the margin to a 50-43 lead at the end of three. Layla Conley would lead Harlan with 13pts for the game, but Hannah Gallegos and Jada Mangum would add a combined 13pts in the 2nd half to give the Hawks one last charge. Mangum would connect on a corner three-pointer cutting the deficit to only five points, 51-46, midway through the 4th quarter, but the Hawks would not get any closer.

Norman would sink a nice 1-handed floater to push the lead back to 10pts for Johnson, 57-47, then on the next possession her trey would essentially ice the game, making it 60-47 lead. The Lady Jags would close out the contest on a 15-6 spurt, wrapping up the win.