HS Girls Basketball Playoffs: Bree Riley and The Grizzlies Stay Composed Under Pressure During Area Round Victory

OAK RIDGE NORTH, TX -- Relentless play on the Oak Ridge hardwood saw the Grand Oaks Grizzlies overcome a tough Klein Collins Tiger squad on their way to a 47-38 win in the Area Round.

Grand Oaks’ 18-game winning streak was at stake against a fellow District Champion coming out of 15-6A. Klein Collins had three losses in district play, but not underestimating another playoff-caliber team was paramount to the Grizzlies’ approach.

In an exclusive interview with The Woodlands Online Sports, Grand Oaks Head Coach Shiakiea Carter discussed how she and the coaching staff prepared for an intense battle.

“We knew it was going to be a dog fight,” said Carter. “We knew we were going to have to battle inside, but I did not expect [Klein Collins] to be as athletic as they were. That’s a great job by them because that athleticism kept us on out toes all night.”

Both teams opened the game with lengthy possessions that ate sizable portions of the clock.

Although the offense ran slower than it had during the regular season, the Grizzlies still secured a lead by running it through the ever-reliable Bree Riley.

Riley’s pull-up jumpers found the back of the net, while her drives to the rim opened up her teammates for looks at or close to the basket.

The Grizzlies' momentum on the floor catapulted the team to an early five-point lead, but Klein Collins's fight refused to let up easily.

The Tigers relied on defense around halfcourt to force a handful of turnovers, which scuttled Grand Oaks’ possessions before they could get going. The turnovers turned into fastbreaks, bringing Klein Collins back within striking distance.

Klein Collins’ fight through the early adversity would have been complete had the team not missed several free throws. The five missed shots from the charity stripe in the first quarter ensured that the Tigers were constantly fighting from behind against a Grand Oaks squad on the verge of finding their offensive stride.

A late individual run from Riley put the Grizzlies ahead by their highest margin to that point. The nine-point quarter from the standout guard was enough to outwork the Tigers and put Grand Oaks up 17-9 at the end of the first quarter.

“A lot of the scoring came down to just resilience,” explained Carter. “When you build the lead and we’re able to sustain it, that tells me we’re moving on the right track. Even if we’re not getting things going the way we want, we can still find ways to make shots like in our fastbreak.”

Slow offensive starts opened the second straight quarter inside the jam-packed Oak Ridge High School gym. Just four combined points through the first four minutes of play highlighted the still-meandering offensive paces.

Klein Collins was the first team to show positive strides during the second quarter, with the team’s inside game playing a factor in the team’s momentum.

Passes to the size-dominant Tiger bigs worked the ball into weak points of the Grand Oaks defense. Even the collapsing Grizzly guards could not stop the strong Klein Oak shots inside the paint, letting the Tigers steadily chip away at the deficit.

Luckily for the Grizzlies, the resurgence of the mostly silent Riley late in the quarter kept the team ahead by a handful of possessions.

“It was very important,” said Carter discussing Riley’s offensive involvement. “The best things it does is it gets her teammates going and it gets the crowd going, and we’re still able to play within ourselves.”

The late scoring run put the Grizzlies ahead by the previous lead of seven going into the halftime break.

With time to make potential adjustments during the break, the 25-17 lead could easily grow or shrink depending on who opened the second half on a stronger note.

“We needed other people to step up,” said Carter over the halftime break. “It was one of those nights where we were just trying to find it and piece it together in all of the ways we could.”

Time to adjust in the locker rooms led to balanced yet indeterminate play from both sides in another low-scoring open to a quarter.

Grand Oaks took a slight edge in the opening minutes behind a 4-2 run through the first three minutes. But the delicate momentum swings were still fairly even as both teams continued to search for the game-changing blow.

Klein Collins’ previous method of trusting the inside game to find looks in the paint ran into increasingly intense defense from the Grizzlies. Switches and traps in every stretch of the floor harassed the Tiger dribblers into ill-advised passes that surrendered the ball.

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies failed to stretch the floor to support their unusually low-scoring shooters. Equally damaging turnovers also handed easy breaks to the Tiger defenders, giving open lanes to the rim in fastbreaks.

“They came at us with strong defensive intensity, pressure, and things of that nature,” said Carter on Klein Collins. “They stepped up on defending the inside against us by blocking us out and getting us away from the rim.”

The gradual chip at the lead, and a rampant supporting fanbase, saw the Tigers inch within two possessions of a tie with just over two minutes remaining in the third.

Grand Oaks’ savior was once again Riley, but a crucial layup from the Tigers just ahead of the buzzer ramped up the pressure ahead of the final quarter.

The Grizzly lead shrank down to five ahead of the final eight minutes, and players on both sides needed to step up to secure the hopeful win for their team.

“It didn’t come down to x’s and o’s in that moment, it was about challenging them,” said Carter ahead of the fourth. “‘If you want to win this game, you’re going to have to rebound,’ I said that multiple times and wanted to hammer home that importance with it being close.”

Cheers from the stands reached their all-time highs to ring in the start of the fourth quarter, but the motivated Grizzlies silenced the potential doubt following another individual run from Riley.

Back-to-back layups through heavy traffic saw Riley elegantly weave through the arms of Tiger defenders for skillful layups. The points nearly put Grand Oaks back up by double-digits, but the never-quit Tigers refused to give in.

Strong possessions and scrambling for loose balls gave a slight effort edge to Klein Collins on a few possessions. But just as they had in times previous, the Grizzlies found the stroke and rebuilt to a nine-point lead.

Klein Collins had chances to sneak back on the scoreboard due to fouls committed by Grand Oaks, but the continued issue of missed free throws while down multiple possessions kept the Tigers from completely contending.

A noticeable Grand Oaks shift toward a slower tempo on offense forced the Klein Collins defenders to step farther out in their defensive set to prevent the Grizzlies from dribbling the clock out.

The long-distance one-on-ones were feasts to the veteran Riley and her capable teammates in the closing minutes. Eyes-up ball handling from the Grand Oaks guards found enough space for either reliable shots or to waste time away from the desperate Tigers.

Too little fouling and too much Grand Oaks dribbling let the Grizzlies sap the final minute and change off the clock with only a few stoppages on the team’s way to a hard-fought 47-38 victory.

Grand Oaks’ win extends their winning streak to 19-straight victories, but the smaller picture of a next-game mentality will be the approach ahead of the Regional Semifinals.

“We’re just tying to win the next one, and we’re going to have to take it quarter by quarter,” said Carter. “We are going to have to be very methodical in our understanding of how important each possession can really be.”

The Grizzlies await their opponent in the Regional Semifinals, with either Longview or Lancaster set to meet them in the third round.

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