ESPN

EULESS, Texas -- Duncanville girls head coach Cathy Self-Morgan wasn't happy with her team's shooting Thursday night.

With the way her team played on defense, she didn't need to be.

The ESPN Dallas No. 2 Pantherettes frustrated Flower Mound Marcus all night en route to a 50-31 win in the area playoffs.

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"That's our game; pressure, pressure, pressure as much as we can," Self-Morgan said.

Sophomore guard Tasia Foman led the way with 24 points, but even after her big night, Foman said it her team's defensive intensity that made the difference.

"We're ready for that," Foman said. "We do a lot of running and we're very conditioned, I think, more than most teams."

Duncanville didn't allow a field goal the entire second quarter.

Marcus mounted a comeback with a 10-3 run in the third to bring the game within seven, 31-24. Foman responded with a big 3-pointer and Duncanville never looked back.

Sierra Bone led Marcus with nine points.

Despite the big win, Self-Morgan said she hasn't seen the best of her team, yet.

"We're capable of so much better," Self-Morgan said. "I give the other team credit for taking us out of our game, but we're going to show up and have some swagger soon."

Duncanville will have the opportunity to show that swagger against the winner of Southlake Carroll and Mansfield Timberview in the regional quarterfinals.

Duncanville completed its second straight undefeated District 5-5A girls basketball campaign with a convincing 63-41 home court victory over Mansfield Timberview on Tuesday night.

The district title was the 69^th for the storied program.

The Pantherettes extended their win streak to 21 games and stretched their string of victories in district play to 32 dating back to the 2009-2010 season.

Duncanville (33-1) is No. 2 in ESPNDallas.com's Class 5A Top 10 and No. 22 nationally in the POWERADE FAB 50 Girls' Basketball Rankings.

Senior guard Empress Davenport, a Texas signee, and sophomore guard Tasia Foman each scored 16 points to lead the Pantherettes against Timberview, which finished third in 5-5A. Duncanville didn't pull away until the second half.

Plano West handed Duncanville its only defeat, 58-50, in the finals of the Collin County Roundball Classic on Dec. 3. That defeat was avenged when Duncanville defeated Plano West, 55-38, in the finals of the Sandra Meadows Classic on Dec. 29 at Duncanville.

Duncanville faces off against Hurst L.D. Bell (26-9), the fourth seed from District 6-5A, in a Region I bi-district playoff slated for 6:30 p.m. Monday at Grand Prairie High’s Amos Turner Gymnasium.

No. 3 ranked Plano West and Irving MacArthur, the top-ranked Class 5A team, are in the opposite end of the Region I bracket and could meet Duncanville only in a regional final.

"We accomplished one of our goals of going unbeaten in district,'' said Duncanville coach Cathy Self-Morgan. "Now our goal is to win the next seven. It won't be easy. We are in a very tough region. But I like the way we are playing.''

Duncanville girls basketball coach Cathy Self-Morgan is among the 15 winners of the 2011 UIL Sponsor Excellence Awards.

From the UIL release on the awards:

The winners were selected by a panel of judges in the areas of music, athletics and academics from nominations submitted by school principals and superintendents across the state.

The award, now in its 21st year, was created to identify and recognize outstanding sponsors who enable students to develop and refine their extracurricular talents to the highest degree possible within the educational system.

“The benefits of interscholastic competition and student performance are only possible through the hard work and dedication of sponsors, coaches and directors like these,” said UIL Executive Director Dr. Charles Breithaupt. “On behalf of the UIL, I commend these outstanding educators.”

Each winner will receive $1,000 and a distinctive trophy from the UIL in recognition of their outstanding achievements in the pursuit of educational excellence through interscholastic competition. The University Interscholastic League continually strives to strengthen and promote the role of extracurricular activities in Texas through programs like the UIL Sponsor Excellence Award.

Denton Ryan's Jeannene Abney, a longtime sponsor for UIL one-act play, poetry and prose competitions, and Connie Stone, sponsor of Granbury's two-time UIL accounting state champions, also won Excellence Awards.

ARLINGTON -- Sue Cannon expressed the thought of many area girls basketball coaches.

“Every time we’re in the playoffs,’’ the Euless Trinity coach said as her players filed out of the locker room, “we always have to play Duncanville.

“I’m sick of losing to Duncanville.’’

Cannon’s frustration is understandable following a 59-49 season-ending loss to the Pantherettes in the area round of the Class 5A Region I area playoff game Thursday night at Arlington Sam Houston High School.

Trinity went 0-3 against Duncanville this season and 31-2 against everybody else.

Duncanville has ended Trinity’s playoff hopes on two other occasions in the last eight years: 2008 in a regional quarterfinal and 2003 in a regional final.

Duncanville, 67 times a girls basketball district champion, had to settle for third in District 7-5A this season. But as its 33-3 record indicates, the tradition-rich program is still to be avoided in the playoffs. Its last two postseason appearances netted berths in Region I finals.

Depth made the difference in the fourth quarter against Trinity.

“I tried to rest 'em to make sure we were fresh,’’ Duncanville coach Cathy Self-Morgan said.

It is a luxury teams with a lesser bench cannot afford.

Guard Empress Davenport led a balanced Duncanville attack with 15 points. Backcourt mate Ashley Roberts and post Bunny Williams each scored 13 and forward Akil Simpson had 10.

Said Cannon: “I think at the end we were tired. In hindsight, maybe it would have been better to slow down more and run our offense. Duncanville is just so quick, so athletic.’’

Tempo was no problem in the first half when Trinity, the District 5-5A champion, led my as many as seven points. Its advantage was four points at halftime.

Duncanville, six times a state champion (most recently in 2003), took control during a four-minute Trinity scoreless stretch midway in the second half. The Pantherettes were solid in their delay game and at the free throw line in the final minutes, withstanding a couple of 3-point baskets by leading Trinity scorer Nikki Moody (21 points).

Duncanville advances to the regional quarterfinal round to meet the winner of Friday’s Irving MacArthur-Lewisville area-round game. MacArthur, the 7-5A champion, swept Duncanville in the season series.