High school roundup: Harmon's night off doesn't hurt Mavs

Morton Ranch's leading scorer Mike Harmon had a rare off night offensively, and the Mavericks managed just seven points in the fourth.

And yet they won anyway.

The Mavs went to Seven Lakes and won last week in a battle of state-ranked squads, sending the Spartans to 0-2 in District 19-5A — and themselves toward even greater things.

"Any time you can go on the road in a hostile environment and get a 'W' that's doing good," Morton Ranch coach Carey Palmer said.

"It's always a close game between us and Seven Lakes."

Morton Ranch's next game wasn't as close, illustrating how good it's been in the early going of district play. It followed one breakthrough win with another - 59-48 over Strake Jesuit.

The Mavericks began last week at No. 22 in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Class 5A state rankings. They knocked off No. 17 Seven Lakes and No. 13 Strake Jesuit.

After struggling against the Spartans, Harmon regained his shooting form against the Crusaders, scoring 26 points in the upset. Mike Fisher had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Harmon had never beaten Seven Lakes, and with he and Fisher battling foul trouble all night, that didn't seem likely to change. Harmon finished with just five points - all in the first half.

He went in averaging 24 per game.

"We don't ever gear our offense around one guy," Palmer said. "He gets his but everybody else is going to get there's too."

It was Chuck Anyasinti getting his against Seven Lakes. The senior post picked up the scoring slack with 16 points, leading Morton Ranch to its 20th victory.

"Chuck is always consistent," Palmer said. "That's the thing you can count about Chuck. He's going to be consistent. He can shoot a good little 15-foot, mid-range shot and he did it (last Tuesday)."

The Spartans never really got going in the setback, but they did bounce back to beat Mayde Creek 71-49 last Friday for their first 19-5A win in three tries.

"We didn't have a good rhythm offensively (that night)," Seven Lakes coach Dan Miller said. "We didn't move the ball crisply, we missed a lot of layups in the first half and we had a lot of opportunities that we didn't take advantage of."

Morton Ranch was up 45-34 early in the fourth, but Seven Lakes turned up the defense and mounted a rally, pulling within 49-48 on Atif Russell's putback with 51 seconds remaining.

But without Princeton Onwas, who left the game with 6:53 left and didn't return after getting hit in the eye diving for a ball, the Spartans couldn't get over the hump.

Onwas was back in action against the Rams, leading four Spartans in double figures with 15 points.

"We started with Strake and Morton, and lost two games by two points," Miller said. "It's tough battles, but at the same time we're not going to give up on our goals."

Taylor takes tussle

Katy Taylor lost its first big game of last week but rebounded to knock off Cinco Ranch.

The Lady Mustangs fell 53-50 to district newcomer Memorial last Tuesday despite a game-high 22 points from Amanda Jungwirth. They were outscored 14-6 in the first quarter.

The following Friday they went back home and defeated the Lady Cougars, whose five-year district championship reign they ended last season, earning a 47-32 victory.

Jungwirth had just 11 points in that one and Logan Johnson added 10 points. Taylor again started slow, falling behind 16-8 after the first quarter, but this time bounced back big.

The Lady Mustangs held Cinco scoreless in the second quarter en route to a 21-16 halftime lead.

The win pushed Taylor within a 1/2 game of Memorial, which opened district in impressive fashion, beating Mayde Creek, Cinco Ranch and Taylor before falling to Katy last Friday.

Faith West wins big

Faith West's fourth consecutive win last week came in non-district play, but it was a big one.

The Lady Eagles started hot and stayed hot in a 52-27 win over fellow Katy-area private school Pope John XXIII on the road. Laura Neville had 13 points and Tyeisha Mitchell had 12.

The victory put Faith West four games over .500 (10-6) and sent them into TAPPS district play on a high note.

It was just the fourth game back for Mitchell, who's the team's leading scorer. The senior guard had major knee surgery last spring.