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Judson Advances to State Tourney, 5th Year In a Row

By Antonio G. Castillo, 03/02/21, 10:45PM CST

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The Lady Rockets would not be denied, Sanderlin wills them to the win...

San Antonio, TX-

Trailing by two points, with only 24.9 seconds remaining, you knew what Judson was going to do. They got the ball to their workhorse, senior superstar, Kierra Sanderlin. She would get the rock and go about 85 feet down the right sideline. There wasn’t a Reagan defender that cut her off. She veered in towards the paint, and dipped back into the lane and would softly lay it up. Knotting up the contest at 48 all and sending it into the extra session.

Once in overtime, the Rockets simply just turned it up. Super sophomore Samantha Wagner would hit two free throws to give Reagan the 52-50 lead, but the Lady Rattlers would fail to score again for the remainder of the overtime period. Judson would finish the game scoring eight points unanswered. One of the buckets was Sanderlin going behind the back at the free throw line, then a reverse pivot, and she would lay it up to give Judson a 54-52 edge, and the Rockets would tack on some free throws for the final tally, 58-52.

Both teams struggled out of the gate, but credit to the Rattler’s physical defense, keeping the Judson star, Sanderlin (Rutgers Signee) out of the lane early on. Reagan bruised its way to a 12-4 first quarter lead.

In the second frame, Judson would start to rev their engine and they would creep to within a bucket, trailing 16-14, but it was Wagner who answered with a 3-point play down low and made it a 19-14 contest. The Rattlers would close out the half with the lead, 25-18.  

Seeing Judson with only 18 points in the half, and 4 at the end of the first quarter, is a sight unseen under Head Coach Triva Corrales. She made sure to get the message across to her ladies at the break on what needed to be done and then made a huge defensive adjustment.

The 6’1” Wagner was starting to heat up, going to the break with almost half of Reagan’s points, 11. Coach Corrales decided to let her superstar go head-to-head.

“We knew that they were really trying to feed her. I actually switched the match-up on her, I put Kierra Sanderlin on her in the second and she did a good job on her in the second. I believe she held her to four points in that quarter. We knew we had to keep her on her (Wagner) and make it a tougher match-up for her.”

Couple the defensive adjustment with the Lady Rockets starting to hit their shots, and Judson would outscore Reagan 20-8 for the quarter. It was the turning point in the contest. The Lady Rockets, would erupt out of the locker room on an 11-2 run, capped off by a step back three-pointer from their senior leader. Her shot gave the Rockets a 29-27 edge, and all of the momentum. Judson would finish the quarter with another trey from Sanderlin, and Michela Verrett would add another bucket, to give them the 38-33 lead heading into the final eight minutes. Wagner was held scoreless for Regan in the third period.

Near the six-and-a-half-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Judson would surge out to a seven point advantage, 42-35. Reagan had no problem countering. A bucket and a three-point play by Wagner would make it a one possession game once more, 42-40 with 3:49 to play. For the game, Wagner would tally 22pts and 13rebs. An impressive double-double, doing all she could to hold off Judson.

A few possessions later, 6’4” junior Christeen Iwuala would get great position on the right block, draw the contact and bank it in for the “And 1.” She would miss the free throw but tie it all up at 44 with 2:40 in the game. Both teams would trade buckets and with only 31.8 seconds remaining, Miranda Noack would connect from under the hoop, giving the Lady Rattlers the 48-46 edge. It would set up the game tying bucket by Sanderlin.

As a result of their win, Judson is now headed for the fifth straight year to the State Tournament as the Region IV representative. Sanderlin had a game high 33 points in leading the way. Amira Mabry finished with 12pts and 8rebs, but her physical banging with Iwuala, keeping her to nine points, was a huge defensive victory for the Rockets. Judson enters the State Tournament with a 26-1 overall record, and will be looking to win their second 6A State Title in three years.