Doesn’t matter if it’s one division or two, a Texas Cup or not, the Nazareth Swiftettes just keep adding to their state championship trophy case.
Appropriately enough Nazareth, which has already won more state girls basketball titles than any other Texas school, was the first one to bring one home from San Antonio’s Alamodome on Thursday morning. The Swiftettes were in control the whole way, taking the early lead and coasting to a 53-31 victory over Saltillo in the Class 1A Division I championship game.
It was the 26th state title for Nazareth (29-9) and the eighth for head coach Eric Schilling, himself a Nazareth alum.
“It’s not a perfect, but a pretty good representation of what this team has been all year starting with our defense,” Schilling said. “Such a gritty, tough defensive team is always what we hang our hat on, especially early in the game, and trust that our offense will come along and that’s exactly what happened. We held them to two field goals in the first half and were able to put a couple of stretches together where we got some stuff in transition. We were patient and able to get high percentage shots.”
Nazareth never trailed, scoring 12 of the first 13 points of the game and not allowing a field goal in the first quarter en route to taking a 14-4 lead at the end of the first period. The Swiftettes led 26-11 at halftime, as senior Brooklyn Birkenfeld outscored Saltillo (34-7) all by herself in the first half with 14 points.
“From the beginning of the season a big emphasis of ours was to have a big first quarter,” Schilling said. “There were several times where we my not have won the game, but we had a big first quarter. “Because I know how important it is in a game like this, I want to come out strong.”
It was strong enough that Saltillo didn’t score from the field until the second quarter. Nazareth stuck to its game plan and there was little the Lady Lions could do.
Birkenfeld had a game-high 22 points for Nazareth and was named the championship game most valuable player.
“I couldn’t do it without the rest of the team,” Birkenfeld said. “They just push me to go. If we didn’t have the strength that we have outside to get the ball inside then it wouldn’t be the same. You have to have good passers to finish inside.”
Senior guard Madison Brockman played a huge role in setting up Birkenfeld with a game-high seven assists.
Saltillo never got any closer than the 15-point halftime margin in the second half. The Lady Lions couldn’t cut the margin to less than 17 points in the third quarter, as Nazareth closed the quarter with an 8-0 run for a 41-15 lead which ended any illusions Saltillo may have had about making a fourth quarter surge.
Nazareth sophomore Jolee Pigg was the only other double-digit scorer in the game with 10 points.
What the win affirmed was the legacy of Nazareth girls basketball and its place in the state. State titles could be viewed as business as usual but they aren’t taken for granted.
“It’s just a special situation and that’s an understatement when you have that much involvement from everybody,” Schilling said. “It’s a lot of pressure but we don’t talk about it. They always want to go out on top and it’s not easy to do, but just to see them through everything and finish it the right way says a lot. The last couple of days we’ve talked about how this program has been real well known for about 50 years.”
It seems that not winning a championship is unexpected for the Swiftettes, who won the Class 1A title two years ago but fell in the region finals last year. That rekindled the hunger for this year’s seniors who were on the 2023 champions.
“Last year after losing at regional finals, I think with three returning varsity people that hit hard,” senior Emerson Moore said. “All the girls who moved up to varsity saw it too. The hunger to win was just incredible and we went into practice every day with that on our mind.”
Bailey Redar led Saltillo with eight points.