SAN ANTONIO – Junior guard Taylor Barnes put together a stellar state tournament debut for SGP. She finished with 24 points on 11 of 17 shooting and 12 rebounds to lead the Warriors past San Antonio Brennan 53-42 in the Class 6A state semifinals on Friday at the Alamodome.
SGP, making its third trip to state in the past four seasons, will face Duncanville in the 6A championship game at 8:30 pm Saturday. The two schools are separated by seven miles.
Barnes also had 4 assists and 3 steals in 31 minutes.
A&M signee Taliyah Parker had 9 points and 4 steals for the Warriors. SGP shot 21 of 46 (45.7% from the field), but struggling elsewhere – going 33.3% from deep and 46.7% at the charity stripe.
Autumn Sherman chipped in 7 points.
Three players for Brennan had 11 points – Taylor Ross, Mahogany Pierce and Bella Flemings. Ross also had 12 rebounds. Flemings posted 47 points in the Region 4 final – a double overtime win to knock off defending 6A champ SA Clark.
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SGP won its 17th straight game. The Warriors secured their third Region 1 championship in four years last weekend against state-ranked teams Southlake Carroll and Boswell – both by double digits.
On Friday, the Warriors had a slow start but managed to lead 10-8 after one.
A second-quarter surge was the difference.
SGP shot 7 of 13 in the second while holding Brennan to 2 of 10. The Warriors outscored the Bears 17-5 in the period and took a 27-13 lead into the break. Brennan won the third quarter 18-15 and both teams scored 11 points in the fourth.
Both teams grabbed 28 rebounds and Brennan had more second chance points.
But SGP led for nearly 28 minutes while Brennan was up for a total of 2 minutes and 12 seconds. SGP’s biggest lead was 15 coming early in the third quarter.
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