Katy's steals and HCYA's passing made for an aggressive girls basketball game Monday night, with the host Tigers posting a 58-42 victory.

Trailing for the most of the first three quarters, Katy came out strong in the last. The Tigers scored 12 unanswered points to take the lead for good, then scored four more as the scoring went back-and-forth to end the game. Savannah Buck made four free throws with seconds left for a 14-point lead.

"I'm certainly happy with the way they came back. I don't think we put our best our in the first three quarters by any means," Katy coach Dean Darrow said. "For them to come back, keep their heads up and keep pushing and executing in the fourth quarter spoke a lot. We won our first couple games this year coming from behind so this was nothing new to us."

HCYA led 14-8 early in the second quarter, but a steal and pass by Katy's Stephanie Taylor to Jenny Garcia brought the Tigers within four. Then Holly Holl made an old-fashioned 3-point play, and HCYA's Frazier made the next basket followed by teammate Alanna Chung.

Holl tied it at 18 after she made a basket then went one-for-one on the foul afterward. But to end the half, HCYA's Shea Hester took the lead when she bounced it off the board and into the net.

Coming out of halftime, Katy took the lead as Garcia shot free throws and Holl made a two-point basket. Katy's lead increased on two more Holl field goals, one off her own rebound. HCYA then made a comeback as Emily Frazier made two, Lauren Hall one and Hester made one basket from a great pass by Mary Kate Estridge.

The Warriors led 32-29 when, at the buzzer, Frazier shot a three-point shot from four feet behind the line to lead 35-29 going into the fourth.

The Tigers begin district play on Dec. 11 and Darrow knows what needs to be worked on from here on.

"What we need to be looking at is putting together four solid quarters," he said. "Our last game we didn't do well the first quarter but then put together three solid quarters. When you get to district, you can't afford to stumble anywhere. And you hate to lose a game because you played one bad quarter. So right now we are working on consistency."

Both teams will participate in the Katy ISD Tournament, a field that also includes 2007 5A runner-up Cy-Fair.

"Hands down, if it's not the best, it's one of the best tournaments in the state. There are six top-40 teams in the state. There is Cy-Fair, who is, I think hands down No. 1 in the state and our district is super competitive and I think we represent it well," Darrow said. "And just the way the tournament is put together, there are first-round games that could be semi-finals and are going to be super competitive. Whoever wins it is something special."

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