Girls Basketball features

Girls Basketball

Brenda Kitten didn’t plan on being a coach when she graduated from Texas Tech in 1984. The San Marcos graduate hoped to teach physical education at an elementary school.

Yet, when a coaching position opened up at a junior high school in Hereford, Kitten decided to toss her name into the ring.

Twenty six-years, two coaching positions and 618 wins as a varsity head coach later, Kitten found herself in a place reserved for only the best coaches — the Texas Girls Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Brenda Kitten didn’t plan on being a coach when she graduated from Texas Tech in 1984.

San Marcos Record
Amarillo Globe News

Girls Basketball

Leta Andrews, wearing dress pants, a flowery shirt, and high heels, sprints through a Granbury High School hall, down a flight of stairs, around a corner, and into her office -- a small room adjacent to the school's basketball court. She is 72, but she still lives, and coaches, at hyper speed.

As she sits at her desk, smiling widely and not even winded, Andrews is surrounded by nearly five decades of memories. All four walls are covered with photos, newspaper clippings, plaques and trophies commemorating her 48 years of coaching high-school girls basketball -- a career with no signs of slowing.

Saturday night, Andrews was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Andrews' latest honor top them all

Girls Basketball

Every time a television announcer is shocked by one of Brittney Griner's highlight-worthy moves, Houston Nimitz coach Debbie Jackson can't help but laugh a little.

So while Jackson is sitting in the stands at the Alamodome today when Baylor takes on Connecticut in the second game of the NCAA Women's Final Four, she will be ready to hear more about her former player, who has become one of the most recognizable women's basketball players in the country.

And Jackson will see more familiar faces. Along with Griner, the Houston area boasts three other starters on Final Four teams: Houston Bellaire's Jasmine Hartman at Oklahoma, Friendswood Clear Brook's Kelli Griffin at Baylor and Houston Cy-Fair's Nneka Ogwumike at Stanford.

Houston Chronicle

Girls Basketball

The last time Duncanville girls basketball coach Cathy Self-Morgan coached a McDonald's All-America squad she anxiously watched as Candace Parker competed in the Slam Dunk contest six months after knee surgery. Parker, playing for the East, suffered no injuries while becoming the first girl to win the contest, but she put a hurt on Self-Morgan's West All-Americans.

Six years later, Self-Morgan, aloing with assistant Elesha Walker, gets another swing at coaching in the nine-year-old game. She has plenty of company with five Texas players on the team.

Duncanville Panther Prints News

Girls Basketball

March 28, a couple dozen 20-somethings will walk back into an Ozona gymnasium that has played a big part in their lives — and the life of their community.

During the 1990s, the small town 82 miles southwest of San Angelo went all out to support the Lady Lions, packing the gym for home basketball games and traveling hundreds of miles during the season for out-of-town matches.

In 1995 and 1996, the team returned the favor, bringing home back-to-back state championships. The team featured Amber McWilliams, Bobbie Bryson -- who was later diagnosed with leukemia, and future Texas Tech player and UIL all-century team member Amber Tarr.

Now, it’s the team’s turn to give back again.  At 2 p.m. March 28, the state champion Lady Lions will play a series of short basketball games in their home gym against any and all challengers.

San Angelo Standard-Times

Girls Basketball

A picture of two high school girls basketball players jumping for a ball highlights the state basketball tournament page on the University Interscholastic League Web site.

In 1951, girl power finally found the court in Austin as the first official UIL girls state tournament was held. In that photo are two girls from McLean and two from Comanche playing in the Class A championship game.

While McLean lost its bid for a state championship in 1951, the echoes from that memorable season are alive today thanks to this season's Lady Tigers.

At 7 p.m. Friday, McLean will step on the Frank Erwin Center court in Austin - about one mile from Gregory Gym - and when the jump ball against Leggett opens the Class 1A Division II state semifinal, it will mark the first time since 1951 the Lady Tigers have played in the state tournament.

Amarillo Globe News