(Floresville) – Navarro is headed to the third round of the UIL girls basketball playoffs for the third straight season after pulling away in the second half to rout TGCA No. 6 Beeville-Jones 75-51 in the 4A area playoffs on Friday at Floresville High School.
Junior guard Tatum Harborth pumped in 25 points to lead three Panthers in double figures. Senior guard Berklee Andrews added 15 and drained three threes, while junior point guard Laylin Sturm chipped in with 14.
The Panthers and Trojans were knotted up 18-all at the end of the first quarter. Navarro went up by 11 in the second period, Beeville-Jones rallied back to within three, and the Panthers built the margin back to seven, 39-32, with a late run that was capped by a Sturm jumper off the glass as time expired to end the half.
Navarro won the third quarter 17-9 to take a 15-point cushion, 56-41, into the fourth. The Panthers outscored the Trojans 19-10 in the final frame to turn the game into a blowout.
“I think we wore them down,” Navarro head coach Darrell Harborth said. “They were looking gassed, and we felt like that. I started subbing earlier than I ever have all year long, probably, just seeing second round, big game, knowing what’s going on, and I could see we were pushing really hard and needed our second wind there. I started subbing pretty quick, and I think they didn’t have enough of a bench there to get it done, I guess, and they got tired.”
In addition to Harborth, Andrews, and Sturm scoring in double figures, Ryanne Hepp contributed eight points, Taylor Helms six, Karlee Koenig five, and Tegan Harborth two.
Navarro used a combination of transition buckets after Beeville misses and turnovers and open shots produced by crisp ball movement against the Trojans’ zone defense to put up the big point total.
The Panthers hit six threes on the night – three by Andrews, two by Harborth, and one by Sturm. Hepp found Helms for a pair of open short-range shots with Hepp playing the short corner and Helms cutting from the high post in the zone offense.
“The execution of the game plan was spot-on,” Coach Harborth said. “We put in a little bit of a different offense for their matchup zone, but it all tied into everything we’ve been doing against zones already, and we did a great job with it. Of course, when we shoot the ball like we did tonight, we’re pretty hard to beat.”
Carrah Davis led Beeville-Jones with 14 points, but she was the only Trojan in double figures.
Navarro (31-6) advances to face Boerne (32-4) in the 4A Region IV quarterfinals. The Greyhounds throttled Sweeny 74-28 in their area round matchup to advance.
Navarro and Boerne square off on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Northside ISD’s Paul Taylor Field House in San Antonio. The game will air live on KWED 1580-AM and Seguintoday.com. Pre-game coverage starts at 6:15.