Pope Leads Dunbar to State

One of the elite players in the 2008 class helps her team advance to the Texas Class 4A state tournament.

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Brooklyn Pope, a 6-foot-2 junior who is Hoopgurlz.com’s top-ranked forward in the Class of 2008, is on her way to a third consecutive Texas Class 4A girl’s state tournament after leading her Fort Worth Dunbar team to their third straight Region 1 championship over the weekend.

Pope scored 14 points in the Lady Wildcat’s 59-41 semifinal win over Plainview Friday night and tallied 15 in Saturday’s 44-40 championship win over Canyon Randall.

Plainview (26-8) and Randall (25-10) both were unranked and had advanced with upset wins over highly ranked Amarillo Palo Duro and Lubbock Estacado respectively.

Dunbar is 30-4 and has won 14 in a row heading into next weekend's state semifinals in Austin.

Pope's teammate, SMU-bound point guard Lashandra Hill, had 18 in Friday’s semifinal win and added 14 in the title game while Hampton University signee Laura Lewis, a 6-0 guard, scored 20 and 12 in the two games.

“Randall played us tough,” Pope said afterward. “Everyone thought it would be a blowout as Plainview had beaten them by about 20 earlier in the year, but they came to play when the lights went on. They stayed focused and made us play hard. I don’t think we were prepared to play this hard to get these two wins. Credit to them for testing us."

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