Huntington vs Columbus: Breaking Down the State Semifinal Matchup
For the first time in school history, the Huntington girl's basketball team is heading to the UIL Texas State Tournament. A one-point victory over top-ranked Fairfield at the regional championship propelled the Devilettes to this historic trip to San Antonio.
State Semifinal Quick Facts
- Huntington Devilettes (35-6) vs Columbus Cardinals (26-10)
- Thursday, February 29, 1:30 p.m. at the Alamodome in San Antonio
- Game will be aired on KICKS 105 (105.1 FM)
- Winner to play for the state title on Saturday, March 2, at 10 a.m.
Huntington vs Columbus - Breaking Down the Teams
- The Devilettes are co-district champs of District 21-3A, they earned the top seed with a victory over Pineywoods Community Academy.
- The Cardinals finished 3rd in District 25-3A. Hallettsville won that district and Edna was the runner-up.
- This will be Columbus' 2nd straight trip to the State Tourney. They lost to Holliday in their state semi-final match up in 2023. Holliday would go on to take the state title in 2023.
- Columbus is the only school from last year's final four teams that will be returning in 2024. Holliday, Fairfield and Winnsboro were the other 3 teams from last year's 3A state tourney.
- Columbus and Huntington have played no common opponents this year.
- The final TABC 3A state rankings put Huntington at #22 in Texas, while Columbus was not ranked in the top 25. So much for what rankings tell us.
- The winner of Thursday's game will play at 10 a.m. on Saturday against either Emory Rains or Shallowater, those two play each following the Huntington game on Thursday.
Meet the Players and Coaches
Huntington
Madison Hawkins
- #1 Jesie Rogers - Jr.
- #4 Caitlyn Stanley - Sr.
- #5 Gracie Hall - Jr.
- #11 Lexi Litton - Soph.
- #20 Harleigh Havard - Sr.
- #24 Claire Harris - Sr.
- #33 Kyra Anderson - Sr.
- #52 Emmie Kelliher - Sr.
- Head Coach - Shawn Jones,
- Asst Coaches - Seth Smithhard, Matt Andrews, Madison Hawkins
Columbus
Columbus Cardinal Athletics FB
- #0 Candee Pitchford - Fr.
- #1 Ava Heffley - Soph.
- #2 Sage Thomas - Sr.
- #3 Thea Schobel - Soph.
- #4 Bri Cleveland - Jr.
- #5 Presley Drozd - Fr.
- #10 Ella Berger - Jr.
- #11 Melanie Hernandez - Sr.
- #12 Karlee Mathis - Sr.
- #15 Anaya Gardner - Fr.
- #20 Ella Schneider - Sr.
- #23 Gracie Schobel - Soph.
- #24 Andreanna Shropshire - Jr.
- Head Coach - Mike Albers
- Asst. Coaches - Zach Albers, Jenn Chester
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