By Thomas Jones, Sports Editor

With a 67-34 win Tuesday against visiting Bastrop, the Chaps clinched a playoff berth for the 21^st consecutive year. That achievement may seem almost mandatory for a 24-4 state-ranked team with an 8-2 record in District 25-5A, but Coach Keith Smith didn’t downplay the feat.

“That’s your number-one goal to do that,” he said. “At a place like Westlake, that’s sometimes taken for granted.”

One of Smith’s defensive anchors welcomed the news, but her unawareness of the win’s ramifications spoke volumes about what the Chaps hope to accomplish in the postseason.

“I didn’t know that we [clinched],” said guard Hannah Coley with a laugh. “That’s good, but that’s just one of our goals.”

Coley and Westlake’s defense reached their goals against struggling Bastrop (6-22, 1-9). The Chaps had 23 steals and held Bastrop to 12-of-33 shooting from the floor while rebounding from their 23-point loss to Pflugerville Friday.

“We came out with a lot of intensity,” Coley said. “We weren’t going to let (Friday) affect us.”

Coley didn’t score a basket in the game, but the sophomore guard’s performance personified Westlake’s balanced play and its fast start. Ten seconds into the game, Coley whipped a pass to Kayla Ball for a layup. Moments later, she collected the first of her five steals and passed to Cherrell Mays, who made a pair of free throws after drawing a foul while driving to the hoop. Coley then deflected another Bastrop pass and fed Mays for yet another layup.

Coley capped her frantic start to the game with another steal that led to a basket by Courtney Duever. For good measure, the 5-foot-6-inch Coley stuffed a Bastrop shot on the other end of the court as the Chaps held an 8-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.

“Playing together doesn’t just mean offensively,” Coley said. “We work well defensively, too, and that showed tonight.”

Westlake stretched its lead to 18-5 lead by the end of the first period. A 15-0 run by the Chaps in the third period sealed the lopsided loss for Bastrop.

Westlake, which had 15 assists on 30 buckets, flaunted its offensive balance. Ball, Mays and Caroline Durbin all scored 16 points, and the 6-1 Duever flirted with a quadruple double by accumulating nine points, nine rebounds, nine steals and seven assists.

In comparison to the Chaps’ balanced attack, Bastrop leaned on 14 points from Hillary Raemsch and 11 points in the paint from Tamlasha Moore.

 

 

Westlake 67, Bastrop 34

 

Westlake        18  18  25  6  - 67 

Bastrop         5   10   5  14  - 34 

 

Westlake (24-4, 8-2) – Coley 0-0 2-2 2, Mays 7-12 2-2 16, Ball 8-9 0-1 16, Duever 4-11 1-1 9, Durbin 8-14 0-0 16, Vermillion 1-1 0-0 2, Ambrose 0-1 0-0 0, Manzano 1-5 0-0 2, Gomez 0-2 0-0 0, Bell 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 30-58 7-8 65.

Bastrop (6-22, 1-9) – Cook 0-3 0-0 0, C. Moore 0-2 0-0 0, Brown 1-3 0-0 3, M. Moore 0-2 0-0 0, T. Moore 3-9 5-7 11, Raemsch 6-9 1-2 14, Jackson 2-4 2-4 6, Roberson 0-1 0-0 0, Mojica 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-33 8-13 34.

 

3-Point goals: Westlake 0-5 (Durbin 0-1, Duever 0-1, Ambrose 0-1, Mays 0-2), Bastrop 2-8 (Brown 1-2, Raemsch 1-4, Cook 0-1, C. Moore 0-1). Rebounds: Westlake 27 (Duever 9), Bastrop 23 (T. Moore 7). Assists: Westlake 15 (Duever 7), Bastrop 5 (Brown 2). Steals: Westlake 23 (Duever 9), Bastrop 4 (T. Moore 2). Blocks: Westlake 3 (Coley 2), Bastrop 1 (T. Moore). Turnovers: Westlake 16, Bastrop 25. Total fouls: Westlake 13, Bastrop 7.