MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas-After making school history, Queen City's varsity girls bowed out of the basketball playoffs on Monday.
Mount Pleasant Chapel Hill built an 18-point halftime lead and didn't look back in a 60-44 victory over the Lady Bulldogs in a Class 3A regional quarterfinals playoff game at Willie Williams Gym.
For Queen City, it was the farthest that a girls' varsity basketball team had ever been and the previous two playoff wins were unprecedented.
"These girls have a lot of heart and worked really hard," Bulldog head coach Janice McMellon said. "Two years ago, they could not find a coach, so I agreed to take it over. Someone missed out on a blessing. Jessica Jones and Jacie Lance will both play at the next level. Several others are going to college for something other than sports. All I want is for them to be good people."
Senior Jessica Jones had a game-high 28 points, including eight, 3-pointers for the Bulldogs. Teammate and fellow senior Jacie Lance scored 14 in the loss, and CeCe Walker pulled down 11 rebounds.
The Lady Devils were content with running out the clock in the third and fourth quarters.
Queen City (26-5) outscored Chapel Hill, 26-24, in the second half. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Devils, 29-26, in the game.
Rebekah Crane poured in a team-high 23 points for Chapel Hill (32-3), while Ja'mya Bishop added 16 and Mason Garrett scored 11.
Down 45-29 at the start of the fourth, Queen City had to start fouling due to the Devils playing stall ball.
Chapel Hill would hit just 11 of 26 charity shots in the quarter, for 42 percent.
But seven shots just didn't fall in for the Bulldogs, and the Devil advanced.
It came down to the team that hit the shots; the Devils shot 51 percent from the field on 18-of-35 shooting. Queen City connected on 13 of 42 shots for a field goal percentage of 31.
The Lady Devils went into the locker room with an 18-point lead, 36-18.
Madie Jones hit the first points of the game for Queen City on a chip shot off an assist by Jessica Jones.
Jessica Jones hit a shot from downtown to give the Bulldogs an early 5-2 lead in the first quarter.
Jacie Lance ended a 5-0 Chapel Hill run when she pulled up and hit a shot from 3-point land. Lance hit a layup before the end of the first, but the Lady Devils led 12-10.
Chapel Hill came alive from beyond the arc in the second quarter as they hit six, 3-point shots. Mason Garrett and Ja'mya Bishop each had two threes in the quarter.
In the first half, Queen City shot 28 percent from the field on 6-of-22 shooting. Chapel Hill nailed 13 of 24 shots for a field goal percentage of 54.
Chapel Hill 12 24 9 15 - 60
Queen City 10 8 11 15 - 44
CH (60): Tompkins 0 2-8 2, Bishop 4 6-9 16, Crane 7 7-10 23, Waldo 1 1-5 3, Hernandez 2 0-0 5, Garrett 4 0-1 11, TOTALS 14 16-33 60.
QC (44): Lance 4 4-9 14, M. Jones 1 0-0 2, J. Jones 8 4-4 28, Kilgore 0 0-2 0, TOTALS 13 8-15 44.
3-point goals: CH-Bishop 2, Crane 2, Hernandez. QC-J. Jones 8, Lance 2. Team fouls: Chapel Hill 15, Queen City 22.