Decatur guard Style Brazile battles for the ball against Denton Ryan’s Kinley Lewis in the teams’ non-district battle Friday at Decatur High School. A second-half rally by the Lady Eagles (12-4) fell short in a 47-43 loss. MICAH MCCARTNEY | WCMESSENGER
The Decatur Lady Eagles attempted to make up for a slow start late in a battle between two 2025 UIL state champions Friday afternoon, but the home team’s second-half rally fell short of fruition.
Holding a 1-point lead entering the fourth quarter of its non-district finale, defending 4A Division I state champion Decatur (12-4) came up short to the reigning 5AI state champion Denton Ryan (14-3) on a 15-10 run in the final 8 minutes, allowing the Lady Raiders to escape Eagle Gym with a 47-43 win.
“Obviously, the way we played in the first 10 minutes wasn’t good enough,” Decatur coach Drew Coffman said. “We fought hard after that, but we’ve got to do a better job — I’ve got to do a better job — of finding out how to get ourselves ready to play. We didn’t have the best week of practice, and that kind of came over into the game tonight. Ryan was ready to play, and we weren’t — that was really the difference in the game.”
Ryan’s offense started the game on fire, sparking an 11-0 run before Decatur found its first bucket — a close range shot by sophomore guard Maddyx Coffman at the 5:20 mark. Despite an injury to the Lady Raiders’ Jamyla Anderson, Ryan’s attack never let up, resulting in a 9-point lead (17-8) at the end of the opening frame.
Despite the deficit, Decatur started to chip away at the score in the second quarter. Sophomore guard Style Brazile’s pair of 3-pointers, along with shots near the basket by the sisterly forward duo of sophomore Sayler Peck and senior Bralyn Peck, helped the Lady Eagles build an 11-8 run to cut Ryan’s lead to 6 (25-19) at halftime.
The Lady Eagles came out of the break firing on all cylinders, as Bralyn Peck — an Oklahoma State signee and the 2024 4AI state MVP — nailed a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 3. Decatur then used a took its first lead (31-30) of the game with 1:18 left in the third quarter thanks a 9-5 drive, capped off by a successful and-one opportunity by Brazile. A pair of free throws by senior guard Laken Coffman preserved the home team’s 1-point advantage, putting Decatur ahead, 33-32.
“We played better in [third-quarter] stretch, but we also defended better in the second quarter,” Coach Coffman said. “We had 13 turnovers in the first half. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, that makes it an uphill battle to win the game. We did a better job of taking care of the ball. Ryan’s length and athleticism definitely bothered us early in the game, and we adjusted and played a little bit better. But we’ve got to find a way to get motivated and paly hard right off the bat.”
Decatur’s lead quickly evaporated early in the fourth quarter after a 3-pointer by Ryan’s Atiya Everett. Later trailing by 6, the Lady Eagles’s hopes of a comeback were then dealt a blow when Brazile exited the contest after picking up her fifth foul midway through the frame.
Laken Coffman and Bralyn Peck bucketed shots from behind the arc, and Laken Coffman tacked on a field goal to trim the Lady Raiders’ lead to 2 (45-43) with 2:18 remaining. But a long scoring dry spell and a pair of free throws by Ryan’s Kinley Lewis with under 20 seconds left sealed the win for the visiting squad.
Brazile led Decatur’s offense with 17 points. Bralyn Peck finished with 9 — all coming on a trio of 3-pointers — while Laken Coffman scored seven.
“We’ve got to find a way to play [Style] more,” Coach Coffman said. “She’s battled foul trouble all year long, so she’ll have to be a little bit more disciplined defensively and her decision-making’s going to have to be better. She had 17, but she could’ve had 25 if we had gotten to play her long enough.”
Decatur will start its quest for the program’s third straight league championship title under Coach Coffman next week. The Lady Eagles host Lake Worth in the District 7-4A opener 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.
Coach Coffman wants his squad to learn from its mistakes in the loss Friday in order to prepare for the challenging district schedule.
“We’re going to revisit tonight — I don’t think you just move on if you lose one like this,” he said. “…I know every team in the district is better than they were last year, and it’s competitive. We’re the team everyone’s got circled on their schedule, so we’re going to get everyone’s best effort and their best game. We’re going to have to come out ready to play, hopefully a lot better than we did tonight.”
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