AUSTIN – The Hendrickson High girls basketball team’s dream season had a bit of a nightmare ending as the Hawks fell 75-45 to LBJ at the Delco Center on Wednesday.

In a season that saw all kinds of firsts for the Hendrickson (27-8) five, first district title, first playoff appearance, first bi-district title and first area title it also saw the Hawks suffer a big loss as they struggled to stop the Jaguars super-sophomore Alexis Hyder. Hyder finished the game with 28 points and seemed to score at will against the overmatched Hendrickson defense. Kathryn Tolbert led the Hawks with 13 points. Jordyn Johnson added 11.

The Jaguars got eight straight points from Hyder to start the game and jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the process. The Hawks fought back with baskets by Johnson and Brittany Gray to trim the LBJ lead to 10-8 but as soon as it seemed Hendrickson was in the game, it became apparent they weren’t. The Jaguars scored seven straight points to close the quarter and opened the second frame with a 20-4 run. By the time the Hawks got back-to-back baskets again, scoring four straight points thanks to Tolbert, they trailed 37-16 and the hole they found themselves in was too deep for them to get out of.

Thanks to the play of Johnson, Gray and Tolbert the Hawks were able to hang with LBJ for most of the third quarter. Amber Vargas hit two free throws to cut the Jaguar lead to 48-28 but 20 points was as close as Hendrickson would get. Hyder converted a three-point play and Jasmine Brown and Morgan Simmons (17 points) both added baskets to put LBJ up 55-28 and send them on to the region tournament.