By Brian Gosset
X – @gosset41
X – @gmsportsmedia1
GODLEY – When Rick Dickson took over the Joshua girls basketball program last season, he was taking over a team that hadn’t won a playoff game in nearly two decades. In his first year, the Owls beat FW Arlington Heights 57-33 for their first bi-district championship since 2008.
After ending their season at the hands of eventual Class 5A D1 state champ Denton Ryan in the area round, Dickson would return just two starters and wasn’t quite sure what his team would look like during the 2025-26 season.
The Owls started the season by winning 25 of their first 26 games and finished the regular season with 33 wins overall. They continued their historic run on Thursday with a 33-31 victory over Aledo, advancing to the regional semifinals.
2008 was also the last time the program reached the third round of the playoffs.
The Owls will play Amarillo Tascosa (31-3), which beat Chapin on Thursday 62-20.
“We knew we’d have a tall task against Aledo. They have an outstanding coach in Donny Ott,” Dickson said. “We battled and fought all game to pull out the victory.”
Joshua (35-4) trailed 26-23 entering the final quarter.
Hadley Soto knocked down a three with under six minutes left that tied the game at 26. Aledo got up two on a pair of free throws by Brooklyn Dempsey. Freshman Lexee Ray tied it with a basket in the paint for the Owls with 5:30 to play. Then Ray hit the go-ahead 3-pointer for a 31-28 edge a minute later.
Aledo struggled to score for the next four minutes and Joshua played keep away to kill some clock. The Owls still led by three when Soto went 1 of 2 at the line with 32.9 seconds remaining. The Ladycats (25-8) got a three from the wing by Tiara Butler that pulled them within 32-31 and 8.4 on the clock.
Chloe Griswell went 1 of 2 for Joshua and Aledo’s three at the buzzer came up short.
“I’m proud of the kids,” Dickson said. “They battled and competed. They didn’t quit, they didn’t give up. It shows the progress of the kids and the work they put in, and the confidence they have in the coaching staff.”
Griswell scored a team-high 12 points while Ray added 11.
Soto chipped in six points.
“We’re not a big team,” Dickson said. “But we defend and we rebound. We’re physical and physicality can go a long way. It develops toughness and the girls are head strong.”
Joshua scored the final seven points of the first quarter and led 9-4, but the Ladycats scored the first 11 points of the second quarter and led 15-9. Elizabeth Griffin knocked down a corner three, her second of the period to push Aledo’s lead to six.
Ray ended the run with a three-point play before Aledo hit another 3-pointer for an 18-12 lead. Soto drained a mid range jumper, but Dempsey’s put back helped the Ladycats take a 20-16 advantage into the intermission.
Griffin led the Ladycats with 12 points – all threes while Dempsey added nine.
“We gave up an 11-0 run, but we called a timeout to collect ourselves,” Dickson said. “We closed it out to four and got a little momentum back. We felt like we were in good spot at halftime only down four.”
Dickson went on to praise his youngest player on the roster in Ray, who hit some clutch shots in the fourth, grabbed a few rebounds and picked up a big time steal late in the quarter.
He said that Ray is a young freshman and that she’s younger than some of the eighth graders at the local middle school.
“She’s a baby, but she doesn’t play like one,” Dickson said. “She had a couple of turnovers early, but she didn’t get rattled. She came up to me and said my bad coach, I got the next one. She’s going to be a strong player for us the next three years and we’re excited to have her.”
