Coppell boys basketball clinches playoff berth, Cowgirls put up 76 points

The Coppell boys basketball team has withstood just about every challenge by a District 6-6A foe. Plano East is the latest adversary to give the Cowboys all they can handle.

The Panthers battled to a halftime tie before the Cowboys used a 23-11 run in the third quarter to pull away for an eventual 65-55 victory Tuesday, clinching a playoff berth for Coppell.

Of course, Coppell wants more.

Winners of back-to-back district titles, the Cowboys seek a three-peat.

Coppell (16-2 overall, 10-1 in 6-6A) remains one game ahead of second-place Marcus (16-6, 9-2) for first place with three games remaining for each team.

The Cowboys have three upcoming games that had to be rescheduled because of undisclosed reasons: Flower Mound (from Friday to Feb. 13), Plano (from Feb. 9 to Feb. 15) and Plano West (from Feb. 12 to Feb. 16).

Juniors Ryan Agarwal and Anthony Black had their fingerprints all over the 12^th straight win for the Cowboys, ranked No. 23 in Class 6A by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, with each player scoring 22 points.

Agarwal also pulled down nine rebounds while Black had eight boards.

Fellow junior Nazir Brown scored 11 points despite being in foul trouble for most of the game.

The girls game was all East.

Earlier this season, Coppell’s girls frustrated East’s offense in a low-scoring 35-33 game that was won by the Lady Panthers. But, East proved too much Tuesday. The Lady Panthers, who have already clinched the district title, cruised to a 57-34 victory.

The loss came three days after the Cowgirls exploded for 76 points in a 76-60 non-district win at Melissa on Jan. 30.

Junior forward India Howard poured in 28 points and sophomore guard Waverly Hassman added 20 points of her own.