PFLUGERVILLE, Texas - Behind senior guards Brenisha Payne (13 points) and Amy Staha (10 points), the nationally-ranked Pflugerville Panthers improved to 26-0 with a 64-44 victory over District 16-5A opponent Hendrickson High School Tueday night.

The win lifts the Panthers to 5-0 in District play. Hendrickson, which turned the ball over 27 times, is now 9-14 and 0-5 in the district. Nationally, P'ville is ranked No. 11 in this week's espnW 25 Power Rankings and No. 14 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 weekly poll. In the state 5A polls, undefeated Duncanville (26-0) is first and Pflugerville second in the TABC/Tex Preps Basketball Magazine and Texas Girls Coaches Association (TGCA) weekly polls.

Pflugerville led 42-30 at the half. Hendrickson closed to within nine points (46-37) with 4:43 left in the third quarter before the Panthers went on an 8-1 run in the next three minutes, capped by junior guard Alyssa Echol's fastbreak layup for a 54-38 lead with 1:30 to go in the period.

Payne also collected game-highs of 11 rebounds and six steals. Senior guard Taylor Ross (five points) dished out six assists while senior forward Diana Omozee (seven points) had eight rebounds.

The victory also was the 599th career win for Panther head coach Nancy Walling. Walling, with a record of 599-246, is in her 26th year as Pflugerville girls varsity coach and her 28th season overall.

Next Up: January 11th Pflugerville-Cedar Ridge contest live on KVBO TV in Central Texas

The Panthers return to action on Friday, Jan. 11 when they host District opponent Cedar Ridge (22-4 overall, 4-1 in the district) in a 7 p.m. contest at the Panther Gym. The game will be televised locally in Central Texas on KBVO-TV, the sports and entertainment channel of parent company KXAN-TV. KXAN sports director Roger Wallace wil call the play-by-play and will be joined by former Pflugerville boys basketball coach Mike Murphy as color analyst. KVBO is available on digital channel 14 and/or 51. To find the KVBO channel on your cable provider, click HERE.

It will be Middle School and Pflugerville Youth Basketball Association (PYBA) Night at Pflugerville. The junior varsity and freshman Gold (A) games will take place at 5:30 p.m. while also at 7 p.m., the freshman Blue (B) teams will square off.

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The Pflugerville junior varsity continued its undefeated district record by posting a 59-33 win over Hendrickson behind a game-high 16 points from freshman post Alexis Bryant and seven points from freshman guard Mykiel Burleson.

The P'ville freshman Gold (A) team lost to Hendrickson, 50-32 as Deliah Mooney and Denitra German each scored nine points, while the freshman Blue (B) squad lost, 31-16.