AUSTIN – Cy-Fair's girls basketball team rewrote their history Saturday night when they defeated DeSoto 50-33 and were crowned 5A state champions.

The Bobcats lost the championship game one year ago but returned this year, jumped to a monstrous halftime lead, and got the win.

The jump ball set the tone of the game as senior Nneka Ogwumike pushed the ball to sister Chiney Ogwumike who took two steps for a lay-up.

The Ogwumike sisters scored Cy-Fair’s first 12 points until DeSoto scored their first on a three by Kelli Willingham.

The Bobcats had a full court press on DeSoto and forced turnovers to lead 18-6 at the end of the first.

Willingham dropped in DeSotos’ next two points and pulled a foul where she sank the free throw. The Eagles scored six more points in the half, two from free throws.

The Bobcats racked up 12 points in the second for a 30-15 lead.

Both teams struggled in the third as first-half powerhouse Cy-Fair was held to five points. The Eagles only scored four but they looked like a whole other team after halftime.

The second half was a physical one. DeSoto came out and played hard. Both teams put on pressure defensively but struggled offensively.

“We did struggle on the offensive end but we didn’t struggle on the defensive end,” Cy-Fair coach Ann Roubique told TSRN. “That was a huge part of us being able to pull away from them and hold them to 33 points.”

The two top-ranked schools matched basket-for-basket in the fourth. At 2:33, sophomore Chiney Ogwumike fouled out with 10 points and two rebounds.

“Chiney was out of position on those fouls and it was definitely her fault,” Roubique said. “And you can’t do that with the talent that DeSoto has.”

Nneka Ogwumike led Cy-Fair to the win with 17 points and 17 rebounds in her final game as a Bobcat.

The Stanford commit was named the State Tournament's Most Valuable Player.

“The really great part about this is that we did it with this team and everyone contributed,” Ogwumike told reporters. “After last year, this is all we wanted and it's worth every minute of every practice and all the hard work.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: The front page photo accompanying this story was provided courtesy of the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District.

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