Defending state champions Fort Worth Boswell, Denton Ryan and Lincoln are ranked No. 1 in the state in the preseason girls basketball poll released by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches.
UIL girls teams can begin practicing Oct. 22, and Nov. 7 is the first day for games.
In all, there are 10 Dallas-area schools ranked in the top 25 in Class 6A, with No. 3 Lancaster, No. 4 North Crowley, No. 8 Plano East and No. 9 Duncanville in the top 10. What’s crazy is that Plano East and Duncanville are the only two Dallas-area UIL schools out of the 22 that are state-ranked in 6A, 5A and 4A that have a nationally ranked recruit in the Class of 2026, 2027 or 2028.
That’s because all six nationally ranked recruits from D-FW in the Class of 2026 are at a prep school, non-UIL charter school or private school. Notre Dame pledge Jacy Abii, North Carolina State pledge Kamora Pruitt and Texas A&M pledge Rieyan DeSouze are at Legion Prep, Amari Byles and Texas Tech pledge Gianna Jordan are now listed as being at Kingdom Collegiate Academy after having previously been at Oak Cliff Faith Family and Washington pledge Amayah Garcia is still listed as being at Faith Family.
High School Sports
Boswell won the 6A Division II state title and has a new coach, as Jeffery Chatman from DeSoto was hired to replace John Reese, who retired after leading Boswell to a 39-2 record. Chatman was at DeSoto for one season and had a 20-17 record as the team finished fourth in District 11-6A. DeSoto opens this season ranked No. 25 in the state.
Lancaster is coming off the first state semifinal appearance in program history. MaKenzie White was a first-team all-area selection in her first season at Lancaster after transferring from Duncanville, averaging a team-high 13.5 points to go with 3.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.2 steals for a 27-6 team as a junior, and Monique Phoenix earned third-team all-area honors after averaging 11.8 points and making 70 3-pointers as a junior after transferring from North Crowley.
Plano East returns four-star sophomore guard Arianna Robinson, rated the 12th-best player in the country in the Class of 2028 and The Dallas Morning News’ All-Area Player of the Year last season. She averaged 20.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.1 steals and was an all-state selection as a freshman after leading Plano East to the first state semifinal appearance in school history.
Duncanville, winner of a Dallas-area record 12 state titles, was a 6A Division I Region II finalist and had a 29-7 record last season as first-team all-area guard Samari Holmen averaged 16.5 points. But Holmen, a four-star recruit who is rated the 26th-best player in the nation in the Class of 2027, announced in July that she had suffered a torn ACL. She did not say how long she expects to be sidelined.
Denton Ryan opens the season ranked No. 1 in Class 5A after winning the 5A Division I state title, going 32-7 and becoming the first girls basketball state champion from Denton ISD. Incarnate Word pledge Zaviyana Madison was first-team all-area as a junior after averaging a team-leading 13.4 points, and James Madison pledge Kinley Lewis was second-team all-area and the District 6-5A co-MVP as a junior after averaging 11.6 points.
Joining Denton Ryan in the top 10 are No. 4 Argyle, No. 5 Frisco Memorial, No. 7 Red Oak and No. 10 Mansfield Summit.
Lincoln is the preseason No. 1 team in Class 4A after claiming the 4A Division II state title and finishing 39-2 and ranked No. 24 in the nation. It was the first state title in girls basketball for Lincoln and Dallas ISD since 2008, and there is plenty of talent returning with first-team all-area selection Ar’Jayla Elder (committed to Old Dominion) and all-area newcomer of the year Lanae Dallas.
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