Minutes into the third quarter, Dripping Springs drove the ball down the court and under the basket. Senior forward Tamia King smothered the ball from the Tigers hand and tossed it up the court to sophomore guard Townsend Hamilton for an easy two points.

Suffocating defense combined with excellent ball movement led the No. 1 ranked Chaps (29-0, 6-0 District-26 6A) to a 71-32 win over Dripping Springs (17-8, 2-4 District-26 6A). Junior guard Molly Frazer and Hamilton each had 10 points. King added five blocks and four assists.

King got the Chaps on the board with an easy layup in the first few seconds of the game, indicative of the rest of the evening.

Sophomore forward Bella Northrup began the second quarter with two threes in a row. The Chaps as a whole knocked down nine shots from behind the arc, with two of them coming from Frazer and two from Hamilton. The Tigers ran a zone defense, opening up the three point line according to head coach Vickie Benson.

“They’re in the zone a lot, so that’s a time where you can let it fly as much as you want,” Frazer said. “So it’s a really fun game just to get the ball wide open and you get to shoot.”

As the second half began, the Chaps started to take over the game. They scored 49 points while holding the Tigers to just 20 across two quarters.

Due to the fact that the Chaps start three players who are all six-foot or taller, the defense at the other end is relentless. Through the first six games of district play, opposing teams are only scoring an average of 26 points.

Although a number of points came from beyond the arc, the Chaps excelled in transition as well. They were able to turn defensive stops into one-on-one looks in the paint.

“We work on it all the time,” Benson said. “Its a staple of what we do…when we see [a] numbers advantage, we know to go and get a paint touch and a layup.”

If the Chaps didn’t get the stop and the game slowed down, they looked for the extra pass, often leading to catch-and-shoot three pointers, layups and piling up assists in the box score.

“Our players are so unselfish,” Benson said. “They are willing to make the extra pass, and that extra pass oftentimes is what gets us a wide open layup.”

Normally a team that keeps the ball in the paint, Friday’s game was somewhat uncharacteristic of their offense, Frazer said.

Done with round one of District-26 6A play, the Chaps will get an off day on Tuesday night before taking on Akins Friday night at Al Bennett Court. The last time these two teams played each other, Westlake came out on top 83-14.

“I think in the future, just working on the little things,” Frazer said. “Just making sure that we play to our caliber, not to our opponents.”