Sports

Although No. 14 Texas will begin their postseason in familiar surroundings, they will face a team that could be a mirror image of themselves on a slightly smaller scale.

No.14-seeded Central Arkansas, the Southland Conference Tournament Champion, enters Friday afternoon's First Round matchup with a 17-game winning streak in tow.

The Sugar Bears and Longhorns meet for the first time, with tipoff set for 1:30 pm following the matchup between 6th-seeded North Carolina State and 11th-seeded Auburn.

Central Arkansas (25-4) won their second consecutive SLC title by steamrolling Stephen F. Austin 60-35 in the final on Sunday.

Texas, the prohibitive favorite to advance into next weekend's Sweet 16, hasn't played since March 5 after they lost to eventual Big 12 tournament champion West Virginia in the conference semi-finals 62-59.

The Wimberley Softball team is not only winning lots of games this year - they’re twinning.

Junior softball players Averie and Allie Messenger are identical twins and valuable assets to a team that has surged out to a sizzling start this season.

The Lady Texans are currently 11-3 and looking to secure a district title in what will be a very challenging league. 

Growing up, the Messenger twins didn’t know what positions they wanted to play or even if softball would be their go-to sport.

But as their skills have developed after becoming members of the National Tournament participant Dripping Springs Lady Redbugs as elementary school kids, the talented pair has blazed their own glory in excelling on the softball diamond.

Get ready to warm up the fax machines and break out the cameras.

Wednesday marked the first day for outgoing Texan male and female student athletes to sign their National Letters of Intent to play collegiately at NCAA Division I and II programs next fall.

That’s when most local colleges will find out where the top high school recruits are going, who flipped from one school to the other, and who finished with the #1 recruiting class in college football.

This date which is commonly referred to as National Signing Day, is the first day of these sports respective date to finalize their college destination. Football’s final day of the signing period is April 1 this year. 

Meanwhile, soccer’s final day to select is August 1 while Basketball recruits will have until May 17 (Division I) or August 1 (Division II).

The Lady Texans capped off a fantastic week by lifting the Salado Classic Tournament trophy on Saturday afternoon. 

Before their tournament last weekend the Lady Texans traveled to Lehman High School on Tuesday. In torrential rain and two lightening stoppages, the girls came away with a 2-1 victory against their larger 6A school opponents. Goals from Taylor Blass and Serena Frank gave the team a 2-0 lead before Lehman pulled a goal back to make it 2-1 shortly before the teams were called off the field early for lightening.

The Lady Texans kicked off their 2017 soccer season last week with games at Bastrop and local rivals, Dripping Springs. The Lady Texans produced an encouraging display in Bastrop on Tuesday night, coming away from Memorial Stadium with a 3-1 victory. First half goals from Seniors Serena Frank and Madalyn Riser seemed to have put the game to bed for the Texans, but the Bears came back in the second half to make it 2-1. The game had barely restarted when Sophomore, Avery Biggers, received the ball on the right hand side and flighted a cross, come shot into the far left corner. 

On Friday night the team made their way up Ranch Road 12 to Dripping Springs in what could only be described as arctic conditions. The Lady Texans were certainly caught cold and soon found themselves 2-0 down at the break. It was not to be the girls’ night as the finally succumbed to a 5-0 defeat. 

San Antonio - For most schools, a 10-3 record and falling two games short of a state title is a banner year. 

But it was very little consolation for a Texans team that surpassed all expectations and came dangerously close to reaching their ultimate goal of securing another championship ring.

Unfortunately, the Texans ran into a Cuero squad that boasted a No. 2 ranking and featured some of the best athletes in the state.

The Gobblers used a late three touchdown barrage to uphend Wimberley 28-7 in front of 3,283 fans at Heroes Stadium in San Antonio to bring the best season in Texans head coach Doug Warren's four-year tenure to a disppointing end.

Austin - After the first ten minute period was complete, the only question remaining in the cavernous Erwin Center arena was whether Texas' Caron-Goudreu twins would finally take the the court together for the first time this season.

Texas (2-2) wasted little time in disposing of Southland Conference visitor Northwestern State (3-1) 86-39 as five players reached double figures in their final game before a televised match-up with No. 4 South Carolina next Thursday as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challanege.

The Demons, who got 15 points from senior guard Beatrice Attura, dug themselves into a 21-9 first quarter hole as senior center Kelsey Lang scored seven of her 12 points early on to pace the Longhorns.

By the time the Quebec, Canada natives took the floor in unison the Longhorns lead had already ballooned to 41-9 with 2:30 left in the second period.

San Antonio - JoJo Weeks scored on a short 5-yard TD run with less than two minutes remaining in regulation as the Wimberley Texans upset the Sinton Pirates 21-14 at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio will now and advance to the third round of the Class 4-A Region II playoffs next Friday night.

It was the third consecutive meeting between the two teams in the postseason and as always it was an epic defensive battle.

But this time, Wimberley relied on their Code Red defense - which answered the bell and reigned supreme for much of the night - to send one of the state’s most explosive offenses packing.

San Antonio - JoJo Weeks scored on a short 5-yard TD run with less than two minutes remaining in regulation as the Wimberley Texans upset the Sinton Pirates 21-14 at Edgewood Veterans Stadium in San Antonio to advance to the third round of the Class 4-A Region II playoffs next Friday night.

It was the third consecutive meeting between the schools in the postseason with Sinton securing the previous two contests.

But this time, Wimberley relied on their Code Red defense - which answered the bell and reigned supreme for much of the night - to send one of the state’s most explosive offenses packing.

San Antonio - For much of the season, the Wimberley Texans have pointed towards last year’s third round loss to Sinton as the primary motivation for their impressive 9-2 record this fall.

From the first drill at two-a-days back in August, there wasn’t a Texan player who didn’t reference the 29-21 loss that halted a Cinderella season last November.

Now the team that stood between them and a possible state championship last fall looms again for the third consecutive season.

The Texans easily disposed of Pearsall 35-7 to capture the bi-district championship last Friday night in San Antonio.

Buoyed by two big plays that led to three first quarter touchdowns - the Texans punched the Mavericks in the gut early and never looked back in eliminating Pearsall (7-4) for the second consecutive season.