The Lady Eagle basketball team left today for Austin, Texas to play in the UIL Girls State Basketball Championships.

Canyon clinched their ticket to the state tournament last weekend by defeating Cleburne and Trimble Tech. Senior Madison Parker was named Tournament MVP and sophomore Caitlyn Cunyas was named All-Tournament.

Canyon had to fight until the very end against the Cleburne Lady Jackets. Despite the massive fan base behind them, the Lady Jackets fell to Canyon 52-55.

“We were really focused and depending on one another and we all had each other’s backs,” Cunyas said. “He (Coach Lombard) told us that it was going to be really loud and to concentrate on doing your job, and that we’d come out on top.”

Saturday, Canyon started their matchup against the Trimble Tech Lady Bulldogs with a 19-1 lead. The Lady Eagles couldn’t hold on to that margin of a lead throughout the game, but still pulled out the win, 49-30.

“We played Trimble Tech last year so we kind of knew how they played, we all knew that we could beat them, and we believed in one another,” Cunyas said. “We knew that they would be trashing talking the whole game so we had to help each other stay focused during the game.”

Canyon will face the defending state champions, Georgetown, Thursday at 7 p.m. in Austin.

“I think we’re pretty confident just because of everything we’ve accomplished,” Cunyas said. “It’s not about how they play or what we do, it’s about us playing our game and playing our best. If we play good defense, it won’t matter what they do.”