GREEN STANDARD: Top-Ranked Wall Looking to Uphold Tradition at State

WALL, TX -- After beating Brock and no. 3 Idalou, the top-ranked Wall Lady Hawks are into the state tournament for the first time since 2016.

Getting back to the state tournament has been the focus for the Lady Hawks since their upset loss to Lubbock Roosevelt in the regional quarterfinals last year. In senior forward Jayden Fiebiger’s words, “that loss hurt.”

“I’m just so proud of my friends. We’ve worked really hard,” she added. “We just wanted to go all the way this year. Just seeing us be able to achieve this goal is really, really awesome.”

The Lady Hawks then set out for their offseason with the Roosevelt loss serving as a constant reminder. In head coach Tate Lombard’s eyes, the team hasn’t stepped off the gas pedal all year.

“[The team] has been prepared this whole time,” Lombard said. “I think they show up to practice with the mindset of getting better every day. That started last year at this point … I feel like we’re playing our best basketball now. I thought our kids stepped up and played extremely well to beat Brock and Idalou.”

That led to another tough non-district schedule for Wall. The Lady Hawks squared off with top-ranked programs like 6A no. 16 Allen, 4A no. 1 Canyon, 4A no. 17 Seminole and 1A no. 1 Nazareth, who is a favorite to win their 23rd state championship. Their only loss this season came against Allen during the Canyon Tournament.

The Lady Hawks will lean on that experience in San Antonio.

“That’s why we play the schedule that we do, just to make our kids better,” Lombard said. “We hope that pays off in big games. So far, it’s paid off because I think we finish games well. We know we have a very tough test on Thursday. That’s where our focus is going forward.”

However, the Lady Hawks, led by six seniors, aren’t done yet. This group of seniors wants to uphold the tradition of Wall Lady Hawks basketball. The last two times Wall went to state, they came back with the big hardware.

“Our goal all year has been to get back to state and win state,” senior forward Haley Palmore said. “[Winning state] would mean the world to us. We’ve been playing together since we were little. That’s all we’ve ever talked about, that’s all we’ve ever dreamed of.”

Wall’s m.o. this season has been one game at a time. Each game has prepared them for the next one, Lombard explained.

“Canadian prepared us for Shallowater. The Shallowater game prepared us for the Brock game. When we got to the Idalou game, it was kind of a mix of all those teams together is what we kinda sold it as,” he continued. “We had to defend them the way we had to in order to win. Each game made us better for the next one. It made our kids more experienced going into each following game.”

Wall’s no stranger to the big stage, though. They’ve played in seven of the last eight regional tournaments. They’ve been to state in three of the last six years. Their six seniors were freshmen during Wall’s title run in 2016.

“It’s a great mark for our program,” Lombard said of the record. “The goal is to be able to compete within your region. Region I has proven to be so tough. Every playoff game is so tough, just having a chance to win your region is a great honor. But as much as we want to celebrate that, it’s about the next step. We’re not satisfied. Our kids wanna win on Thursday and play for a state championship.”

That experience and drive to win helped the Lady Hawks maintain their focus after beating Idalou for the regional title. They celebrated the win, but kept their eyes locked on winning the program’s third state title, Palmore said.

So, Wall immediately turned their eyes to undefeated no. 2-ranked Mount Pleasant Chapel Hill. The Lady Red Devils are on a similar path to the Lady Hawks. Having a marquee matchup like that at a place like San Antonio’s Alamodome is exciting from a player’s perspective.

“It’s exciting because our team is so good this year, like we’re a great team,” Fiebiger, an Oklahoma State track signee, said. “We definitely rise to that occasion. I’m excited that we get that kind of a matchup. When we get a good matchup, we always play better and we all just come together.”

After an overtime loss to Pottsboro in last year’s Region II tournament, Chapel Hill set out for more in 2018-19. They’ve accomplished that so far with a 35-0 record and the Region II title after beating Edgewood 42-38 on Saturday.

Despite dominance throughout the season, Wall isn’t looking past Chapel Hill and will keep their same game-to-game mentality heading into Thursday’s clash.

“You know when you go down [to San Antonio], you’re gonna get the best,” Lombard said. “They haven’t lost all year, they’re undefeated and they know how to win. They’re a very talented team that can score the ball and defend really well. They’re very well coached. We’re gonna have to play our best to have a chance to beat them.”

In order to play their best, imposing their style of play rather than following Chapel Hill will be the first and foremost for the Lady Hawks. That style is a stout defense supplemented by a well-rounded offense.

“You always wanna dictate how the game goes,” Lombard said. “I feel like our defense was really good against Idalou. We defended them well, we hit timely shots when we needed to on offense and we had runs where we were able to build leads in the second half.”

That well-rounded offense is centered around the forward play led by Fiebiger and Sam Rocha. Having a dominant presence in the paint has opened up avenues for Wall’s guards.

“Teams will come in thinking they have to really guard inside,” Fiebiger said. “When people guard inside, it makes it to where our outside guards can shoot, drive, and it opens up so many more things. If they try to guard our shooters and spread out, it leaves us open inside. We just have a well-rounded team, so it all works.”

The Lady Hawks will square off with Mount Pleasant Chapel Hill at the Alamodome on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the first Class 3A semifinal.