Nimitz and Westside are two teams moving on in the winners bracket after Thursday night's action in the Aldine I.S.D. Girls Varsity Invitational.

The three day, 16-team tournament got started Thursday night and will conclude with the championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday. The tournament is hosting 4A and 5A schools from Regions II and III, including Westside, Nimitz, Elsik, Eisenhower, Dallas Lincoln and Washington.

The Athlete's Connection covered two games at Nimitz Thursday night.

Nimitz 62, Fort Bend Bush 27

After being tied at 20 at halftime, host Nimitz scored 26 points in the third quarter to rout Bush.

Jessica Diamond scored 12 points and Brittany Griner eight in the big quarter, and Nimitz (10-3) held Bush to only three second-half points until there was 2:45 left in the game.

Diamond made three 3-pointers for Nimitz.

"We started off slow. I don't think we were quite mentally ready. But once I decided to go zone and press, our quickness beat their height. We were able to push the tempo of the game and get the ball out of thier post players' hands," Nimitz coach Debbie Jackson said.

Nimitz, which defeated Spring Woods in its District 19-5A opener Tuesday night, advances to play Westside Friday night.

"We are still experimenting with finding our fourth and fifth player to complement Brittney, Jessica and Kyiandria (Hardy)," Jackson said. "I see progress every game and that's what we are working on. We want to get better after every practice and every game. ...

"This tournament has got some excellent teams. Westside was in the Regional Final Four last year. Dallas Lincoln has won the state championship and they are always a very athletic team. Elsik won the tournament last year. These are some of the best teams in the area and state."

Westside 73, Cypress Ridge 24

Westside took an 18-0 lead early and routed Cy Ridge.

Westside led 29-8 after the first quarter, and Meghan Allen began a big second-quarter onslaught in which Westside added 14 more points.

"I was happy that we pushed the ball up the wings and ran transition basketball," Westside coach Troy Gillespie said. "I did feel that there were some dips in momentum in the beginning of the second quarter where we had a two-and-a-half minute segment where we didn't score, but overall it was a pretty consistent effort from start to finish. I liked our defense. We were diving on the floor. And all the little things that we haven't been doing, we decided to start doing tonight."

Gillespie described Westside's season to date as "tremoulturous."

"We've had some peaks and valleys and there doesn't seem to be much in between. When we win it's pretty and when we lose it's truly ugly," he said. "We play Nimitz tomorrow night. They have the No. 1 recruit and No. 2 recruit in the nation in the junior class. It's a heck of a team and program. So I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of effort we put out after a game like tonight."

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