Magnus, No. 2 Cowgirls Punch Ticket to Regional Final in Dogfight

SAN MARCOS, TX -- The no. 2-ranked Mason Cowgirls got all they could handle from a scrappy Shiner team, but won 47-34 to advance to the Class 2A Region IV final on Saturday.

“I’m real proud of them for fighting through such a physical game,” head coach Jeff Guice. “It was just a really physical game. So, I’m proud of our girls doing what they had to do to win the game.”

Senior post Ruby Magnus shouldered the load for Mason with a team-high 17 points in the win. Seven of those points came in the first half.

“She’s just a competitor,” Guice simply stated. “She kinda put us on her shoulders one more time and got us where we needed to be. It was pretty physical inside, she took a pretty good beating tonight.”

Knowing she was the focal point of Mason’s offense, Shiner swarmed the senior and frequently made contact with her. Magnus went to the charity stripes 10 times.

But Magnus also didn’t draw the same amount of calls as times she felt she was fouled. So, the senior fought through as she has all season.

“The refs aren’t always gonna be good. Things aren’t always gonna go your way,” Magnus explained. “As long as you’re ahead, it doesn’t matter.

The senior lamented their play a little bit, crediting Shiner for breaking their rhythm.

“It was a good game,” Magnus noted. “We didn’t play our best game. There are some days like that. We’ll come back ready tomorrow.”

Mason held a 6-2 lead early in the first quarter before Shiner went on a 6-1 run to go up 8-7 with under a minute left in the quarter.

Magnus split a pair of free throws to tie the game up at eight and the end of the first quarter.

Allie Guice and Presley Anastas hit back-to-back three-pointers to open the second quarter and put Mason up 14-10 early in the second quarter.

From there, Mason never looked back. The Cowgirls proceeded to outscore Shiner 21-11 in the second quarter and 39-26 over the rest of the game.

Mason (36-1) will face no. 7 San Saba, their district rival, after the Lady Armadillos beat Flatonia 62-38 on Friday night. Mason beat San Saba by a combined 10 points in their two meetings this year.