By Brian Gosset
Last season’s trip to state was the first for the Ryan girls basketball program and now the Raiders are back-to-back champs.
Kinley Lewis and Jamyla Anderson scored 14 points apiece for Ryan during its 45-34 win over Leander Glenn in the Class 5A D1 final on Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Ryan beat SA Wagner 58-47 in last season’s title game.
Despite their struggles from the floor, the Raiders (37-4) won the rebound battle 40-29 and forced 17 turnovers. Ryan shot 26.3 percent, but Glenn didn’t do much better at 31.4 percent.
Both teams combined to go 4 of 28 from behind the arc.
Ryan led 9-5 after the first quarter following a second-chance layup by Lewis with seven ticks left on the clock. Kaylin Jackson’s layup capped an 8-2 run in the second to give the Raiders a 20-14 lead with 1:08 remaining before half.
The Raiders led 23-18 at the intermission.
Glenn (35-4) pulled within 23-22 on a driving layup by Elizabeth Lee. The game was at 27-25 with 3:47 left in the third before Ryan closed out the quarter on a 10-2 run.
Jackson hit a jumper on the first possession of the fourth quarter and lead hit double digits at 37-27.
A three by Jennah Lee got Glenn within four with three minutes to play, but that was the closest the Grizzlies would get as they didn’t score again. Glenn missed six attempts and committed two turnovers in the final three minutes.
