Winnsboro freshman Hadlee Brown dribbles up the court with Rains' Caroline Piles defending Saturday in Prosper.

PROSPER — There will be a new program at the UIL Girls Basketball State Tournament.

Facing a Winnsboro program that has been a mainstay at the state tournament, making 15 appearances — all since 1991 — including the previous two years and three of the past four years, the Rains Lady Cats led for nearly 31 minutes in a 69-56 victory Saturday in the Class 3A Region II final, punching their first trip to the state final four in program history.

“This doesn’t happen without the kids buying in and the families buying in,” Rains head girls basketball coach Laura Jenkins said. “I’m just so proud of these girls. They love the game and they love each other. This is my fifth year here. Their families have bought into basketball and taught them to be a tough girl. I’m just so proud of them for trusting the process. This doesn’t happen overnight.”

In Jenkins’ first year, Rains went 23-11 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs. The next year was a 19-7 record and a third-round playoff trip — Jasey Campbell, who is one of two seniors on this year’s Lady Cats’ squad, was a freshman on that team. The Lady Cats went 17-19 the next year and lost in the first round of the postseason before going 24-13 and making the third round of the playoffs in 2022-23.

But this year was the breakout year. The Lady Cats won their first six games of the season with a victory over Class 4A No. 13 Canton, which advanced to the Class 4A Region II final, in the Macy Chenevert Memorial Basketball Tournament in Tyler. The next night, Rains suffered its first loss with a 51-42 setback to Class 4A Jacksonville. The Lady Cats followed that up with wins over Class 4A Gilmer and Class 2A No. 1 Lipan. Rains lost to Class 5A Amarillo Palo Duro, 56-48, on Dec. 1, 2023.

That was the last loss for the Lady Cats. Rains reeled off 25 straight wins, the two latest being a 64-40 rout of No. 7 Tatum, which previously had just one loss, on Friday and then Saturday’s 69-56 verdict over perennial power Winnsboro.

“Everybody was crying, but I couldn’t even cry because of how happy I was,” said Campbell. “It’s unreal. It’s amazing. Honestly, I can’t even describe it.”

Campbell was the leading scorer for the Lady Cats, but it was a balanced attack as seven different players scored — all scoring at least 7 points — with five in double figures. Campbell had 13 points. Senior Haley Robertson, junior Jazzy Phillips, freshman Jaycee Phillips and sophomore Kenzy Thompson all scored 10. Sophomore Presley Kilgore had 9 points, and sophomore Caroline Piles added 7 points.

“We have the biggest bond anybody could ask for,” Robertson said. “This team is special. We love each other. And it’s just a great thing to be a part of.”

The Ladycats were dishing out the assists on Saturday as Campbell had six dimes, Jaycee Phillips five and Robertson four, which was a big key in the victory.

“Just working for each other and playing for each other,” Campbell said. “And hitting shots really helped us … and our defense.”

Piles grabbed six rebounds and Piles five boards. Campbell had eight steals, and Kilgore had five steals.

Rains took the lead exactly a minute into the game with a three by Robertson. Jazzy Phillips followed with a three of her own. Winnsboro tied the game up at 9-9 with 2:22 on the clock on two free throws by Payton Green, but Rains regained the lead 18 seconds later on a triple by Campbell and led the rest of the way.

The Lady Cats’ lead was 19-10 after the first quarter and 40-24 at halftime. A quick three by Piles pushed the lead to 19, 43-24, early in the third quarter. The advantage was 54-41 going into the fourth quarter.

Winnsboro was able to get the deficit to 9 twice behind 5 points from Hadlee Brown and a 3-pointer by Kaitlyn McAdoo. But once Winnsboro cut it to 48-39, Rains got it back to double digits for good.

“We’ve been preaching defense,” Jenkins said. “The best defensive team will win the game. We scrambled. People are going to hit shots. We wanted to contest and contain, contest all shots and contain your girl on the drive. Sometimes we did it, sometimes we didn’t, but we did it enough to get the win.”

Brown, a freshman, led No. 4 Winnsboro (33-7) with 28 points, going 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the third quarter. Halle Deaton scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds. Green had 8 points, 12 rebounds and four steals. McAdoo had 4 points, five assists and four steals. Lexi Mitchell scored 3, and Karsyn Daniels added 2.

No. 3 Rains (36-2) will face Shallowater (26-12) in the Class 3A semifinals at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Alamodome in San Antonio. No. 22 Huntington (35-6) will face Columbus (26-10) in the other 3A semifinal at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

“This is a tournament,” Jenkins said. “That’s what we came to Prosper to do. This is a tournament, not a game. We’re going to San Antonio to play a tournament.”