Nimitz freshman forward Chrishauna Parker didn’t burst onto the scene until almost a month into the girls basketball season because of a severe ankle injury.

Now that she’s emerged as an able counterpart to junior phenom Brittany Griner, the Cougars have taken a huge step to another District 19-5A championship.

Griner had 27 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks, and Parker added 11 points and 11 rebounds to pace Nimitz pace rival Eisenhower 54-42 Tuesday night at the Aldine Campbell Center.

The Cougars (24-7 overall, 11-1 district) handed the Eagles (25-7, 11-1) their first district loss and pulled into a first-place tie with Eisenhower with two games remaining.

After a cold start from the floor, Griner and Parker keyed an inside domination that led to Nimitz outscoring Eisenhower 15-5 in the quarter to open a 26-14 halftime lead.

“Brittany and I are like Shaq and Kobe,” Parker said. “We both get to work. Sometimes they’ll get the shot over me and I’ll tell her, ‘Hey Brittany, let me get a rebound.’ We work well together.”

Parker shined even more in the respect that Cougars guard Jessica Diamond, like Griner already a Baylor commitment even though both are juniors, was held to seven points.

“She (Parker) is not a secret anymore,” Nimitz coach Debbie Jackson said.

Said Griner: “You wouldn’t think she’s a freshman by playing with her. We have real good chemistry and a real good connection.”

Chynna Turner, whose potent 3-point shooting helped beat Nimitz in the teams’ first meeting, scored 13 points. Veronica Cleveland added 11 points and Anjelica Markray had all of her nine points on the fourth quarter, when Eisenhower got within eight with about a minute left but never closer.

“We had to stop their 3-point shooting,” Jackson said. “We really believe in defense and rebounding. We work as a team, and if Brittany gets in one-on-one situations we look for good looks from other players.”

If the teams finish the regular-season tied, as they did last year, the teams have three options to break the tie. They can discuss among themselves which team will claim first- and second-place in the bi-district bracket, decide it in a coin toss, or play a tiebreaker game.

Nimitz defeated Eisenhower in such a game last year after splitting the season series.

Boys: Eisenhower 79, Nimitz 73

Eisenhower’s boys (26-3, 10-0) got the display of balance on which they’ve thrived all year, putting three scorers in double-figures to pull three games ahead of second-place Nimitz (17-12, 7-3) in 19-5A.

Darius Goff had 18 points, Ella Ellis 16 and Jazz Reynolds 14 for the Eagles, who led by 15 at halftime and by as much 18 in the second half before holding off a furious Cougars rally.

Nimitz got within 68-65 with two minutes left, but Reynolds hit a 3 and Raymon Gomez followed with a layup to push the lead back to 10.

“We pride ourselves in our defense,” Eagles coach Jesse Shelton III said. “The first three quarters we controlled the tempo but then we got a little lackadaisical and had some bad turnovers which let them get back in the game. But we made shots when we had to.”

Willie Holmes had 19 points, Gary Cox 17 and Dailon Wilson 14 for Nimitz.

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