The Lady Eagles claimed Canyon’s 16th girls basketball state championship Saturday at the Frank Erwin Center at the University of Texas in Austin.

Seeded fourth in the state tournament, Canyon faced the defending state champion team, Georgetown, Thursday night. Canyon ended Georgetown’s state title reign with a 41-22 win, and faced McKinney North in the finals.

The Lady Eagles struggled throughout the championship game, and did not gain the lead until the fourth quarter. Once Canyon was on top, the Lady Eagles relied on their strength of the basics of basketball to clinch the win. Seniors Taylor Jones and Madison Parker made crucial free throws at the end of the game to secure Canyon’s victory, 49-42.

“Our momentum didn’t really start coming on until the end of the third quarter,” Parker, tournament Most Valuable Player, said. “I looked at my team mates and told them that we did not come this far to lose to an inferior team. Going back to our defense and getting stops was the main thing for us. Once we started to get more aggressive on our defense, our offense started to kick in.”