No. 1 Wall, No. 2 Coahoma Set for Epic Clash in Regional Final

SAN ANGELO, TX — The No. 1-ranked Wall Lady Hawks are on the doorstep of their first trip to the state semifinals since 2019.

Standing in their way is a No. 2-ranked Coahoma team that has won 30 games in a row.

Wall (34-3) and Coahoma (34-1) each have aspirations of a state title, but only one of them will make it out of the region when they play at 6 p.m. Friday at Howard College’s Dorothy Garrett Coliseum in Big Spring.

There has been a sense of inevitably to their meeting in the Class 3A Division II regional final as they’ve held the top two spots in the rankings for the last two months.

However, Wall had to first survive a 35-25 win over No. 3 Idalou on Tuesday in the regional semifinals.

The Lady Hawks scored only four points in the first 13 minutes of the game, but their defense held strong as they trailed just 9-4 before going on a late run in the second quarter to take a lead they never relinquished.

McKenzie Lopez scored a career-high 19 points to lead Wall on a night in which offense was hard to find.

It was the 13th win in a row for Wall, which hasn’t lost since Dec. 31 when the Lady Hawks suffered a 40-25 setback to Decatur at the Championship Basketball Tournament in Saginaw.

Decatur is the No. 1-ranked team in Class 4A, and the only other teams to beat Wall this year are No. 2 and No. 3 in Class 4A — Canyon and Brock.

Coahoma’s only defeat this season was way back on Dec. 2 in their fifth game of the season. The Bulldogettes lost badly, 57-26, to a Cisco team ranked No. 3 in the state in 2A.

Coahoma hasn’t lost since, and while its incredible winning streak should no doubt be respected, the Bulldogettes haven’t been tested the same way as Wall.

The Lady Hawks loaded their schedule with numerous state-ranked teams, and they earned wins over Abilene Wylie (No. 12 in 5A), Seminole (No. 10 in 4A), Fredericksburg (No. 11 in 4A), Midlothian Heritage (No. 20 in 5A), Emory Rains (No. 9 in 3A), Sunnyvale (No. 4 in 4A), Paradise (No. 6 in 3A) and Brock (No. 3 in 4A).

Coahoma had two wins over Lamesa (No. 15 in 3A), along with impressive wins in the area round against Canadian (No. 22 in 3A) and in nondistrict play over strong 2A teams Ozona and Roscoe.

There’s no denying, however, that Wall has seen much more difficult competition, and the Lady Hawks are hoping that experience will pay off Friday.

Neither one of these teams has made a significant playoff run in recent years, and Coahoma has never won the regional title.

Wall has a proud tradition in girls basketball with eight regional titles and two state titles in 2014 and 2016. The Lady Hawks’ last regional title came in 2019, when they were led by Sawyer Lloyd and lost to eventual state champion Mount Pleasant Chapel Hill in overtime of the state semifinals.

Overall, these two teams sport similar offensive and defensive numbers. Wall is scoring 59.2 points per game and allowing 29.8. Coahoma is averaging 55.1 points and giving up 28.1.

Wall is coached by Silas Crisler, who is the husband of Lady Hawks' legend Maddi Chitsey, who led the team to both of its state titles.

The Lady Hawks are a deep team that includes four seniors — Kennedi Graves, Kathrine Lewis, Emery Harper and Aliyah Vera — along with numerous impact underclassmen like juniors McKenzie Lopez, Kenzzie Covert and Kylee Holik, sophomores Jewels Johnson and Maci Wagoner, and freshman Brynlee Graves.

Neither Wall or Coahoma have considerable height as Wall's Harper is the tallest player at 5-foot-10. Coahoma has two players that stand 5-9, Addison Schmidt and Bree Lewis.

Madi Renteria leads Coahoma with 14.3 points and 3.1 steals per game. Schmidt is averaging 13.2 points per game.

Coahoma is coached by Alyssa Peterson.

The winner of Wall and Coahoma will advance to the state semifinals to play No. 6 Paradise (32-4) or Valley View (22-10). 

On the other side of the bracket, the regional final matchups are No. 7 Buffalo (32-4) vs. No. 24 Central Heights (30-5), and No. 19 Jourdanton (31-9) vs. Taft (22-15).