Summer Creek head coach Donny Ott hugs his starters as after they were pulled in the closing moments of the Region III-6A championship high school girls basketball playoff game at the M.O. Campbell Education Center, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Houston.
After a brief moment of pause when the buzzer sounded, like a team-wide breath of fresh air, the Lady Bulldogs of Summer Creek ran around the court at the Campbell Center celebrating their latest victory as if it were their first.
It wasn’t, of course. There have been 34 others. But this one meant more than the rest.
The joyous shouts — screams, actually — were in celebration.
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The grind of a high school basketball season had finally paid off with the accomplishment of a stated preseason goal: A trip to the state tournament.
Summer Creek rolled past Hightower 65-35 on Saturday, dominating from start to finish, to claim the Region III-6A title. The Lady Bulldogs advance to next weekend’s state tournament for the third time in school history.
After losing in the regional final last year, Summer Creek was determined to take the next step.
“It feels good to be back where we belong,” senior guard Janiya Murphy said. “We know what it feels like going to state and what it felt like not getting there. We got here last year and knew we could get past that.
“We had to get back to that feeling, get to state. And we want to know what it feels like to actually win state this time.”
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READ MORE: Summer Creek owns the glass, protects the paint to claim regional title
Their head coach knows.
Donny Ott is returning to the state tournament, having led Cedar Park there in 2021 and ‘22, winning consecutive championships with just one loss in those two seasons.
Ott came to Summer Creek this school year, stepping in for Carlesa Dixon, who moved into administration. In her position as assistant athletic director at Humble ISD, she hired Ott to coach her old team. Her kids.
“It wasn’t easy to make the decision not to coach, but it was easy to give them to Coach Ott, because I knew who I was turning them over to,” Dixon said. “I’ve known him a long time … I know what he does, knew what he would bring, and I knew what the girls needed to get over that hump. I knew he would bring exactly what they needed.
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“I feel like a proud mom, instead of a proud coach. Those are my babies.”
After the trophy ceremony, a host of Lady Bulldogs ran to Dixon and shared an emotional group hug. They held on tight.
There were tears.
It wasn’t much different than the grip they had on the Hurricanes throughout the game.
Hightower is one of the best defensive teams in the area. Summer Creek is THE best.
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The Bulldogs’ straight-up relentless pressure early on kept Hightower from ever settling in. The Hurricanes didn’t even manage to take a shot from the field until midway through the first quarter when Chandler Preston-Caver got loose for a pull-up jumper in the lane.
The score was just 5-2 at the time, but it felt like a blowout. It wasn’t much longer before the score matched the flow of the game, with Summer Creek forcing nine turnovers to take a 15-6 lead at the end of the first period.
As game as the Hurricanes were, and they fought, the Lady Bulldogs were too strong, too good. Nothing comes easy against the Lady Bulldogs.
“(Defense) has been our backbone all year, we pride ourselves on that end,” said Ott, whose first championship squad at Cedar Park held opponents to 27 points a game. “We work extremely hard on it and all the field prep that we do is geared toward getting stops.
“If we can keep (teams) under control, we always have a chance to win.”
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After being knocked out in the regionals the last two seasons, the Lady Bulldogs were hungry for a return to San Antonio. They were ready for the moment.
Hightower allowed just 30 points a game during the season. The Lady Bulldogs topped that in each half.
Summer Creek’s backcourt of Murphy and sophomore Kennedy Smith controlled the tempo and combined for 17 points, while posts Zachara Perkins and Mariyah Brown dominated inside. Perkins, a Rutgers signee, led the Lady Bulldogs with 19 points, and fellow senior Brown added 17.
Summer Creek, ranked third in the state, entered the season ranked No. 2 by the Chronicle, so advancing to the state semifinals isn’t exactly a surprise. But that didn’t stop them from playing with a chip on their shoulders.
“A lot of people called us out, and wrote us off,” Murphy said. “People really said we couldn’t do it. Now what can they say? We’re here.
“We just have to go prove that we can actually win it.”
Ott says his squad has been toughened by a difficult schedule that included games against eight teams that played in regional finals around the state on Saturday.
He knows what it takes to get it done. Several Lady Bulldogs said trust was the key factor in the transition from Dixon to Ott.
“Obviously having Coach Dixon leave was hurtful to us, but having Coach Ott come in as a two-time 5A state championship winner, there was a trust factor and we trust him,” Perkins said.
Added Murphy: “He came in with experience, we already had experience of our own, and it all came together. He trusted us, we trusted him.”
The Lady Bulldogs are now two wins from the program’s first state championship. Ott says they have to treat what’s next like every other game.
His team echoes his words.
“We just have to stay locked in, stay with all the things that worked before,” Perkins said. “Not switching it up, not doing anything differently.”
Next game, next goal.
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