By Mike Blackwell

One by one, the Governor of Texas placed gold medals around the necks of the Comanche Maidens Saturday in Austin.

At the very end of this receiving line of state champions stood Diana Martinez, whose fourth-quarter brilliance helped her team beat Winnsboro 65-56, giving Comanche its first girls' state championship since 1951.

Of all the shoulders upon which George Bush Jr. Rested championship medals in the Frank Erwin Center, none were sturdier than those of Martinez. The 5-foot-5, 15-year-old freshman's spark, coupled with the clutch free-throw shooting of senior Amanda Ward, erased a 10-point fourth quarter Winnsboro lead and sent the Maidens home with the state's top prize.

Ward, who was named the game's Most Valuable Player, made all seven of her free throws in the fourth quarter as the Maidens outscored the stunned Lady Raiders 23-4. Comanche's pressing, frenzied defense kept Winnsboro from scoring a point in the final 5:20 of regulation, until Sara Hinkley hit a meaningless buzzer-beater for the Lady Raiders.

That defensive energy was provided primarily by Martinez, who started the final period for Comanche with a jumper to cut the Winnsboro lead to 52-44 with 6:48 remaining. Ward's three-point play with six minutes left sliced the lead to 52-47, but Winnsboro answered with a Sarah Mitchell baseline jumper with 5:20 remaining.

Surely no one in the crowd of 7,244 could have predicted that Mitchell's basket would be the last significant Winnsboro field goal of the day. A jumper by the Maidens' Lindsey Newhouse cut the lead to 54-49, and that's when Martinez began a stretch of wizardry that would bring the Comanche crowd to its feet, and the Lady Raiders to their knees.

The quick Martinez swiped a pass, drove the length of the court and scored with a foul, and though she missed her free throw, the Comanche Crowd was electrified as the lead was down to three, 54-51, with 4:49 remaining. Less than a minute later, Martinez carbon-copied her previous heroics, stealing a pass and making a layup to draw the Maidens within one, 54-53, with 4:16 remaining.

Suddenly Comanche saw doubt in Winnsboro's eyes, and heard defeat in their voices.

"All I remember them saying," said Comanche center Kristi Tyson of the Lady Raiders in the fourth period, "Is 'We're going to lose if we don't pick it up.' I thought, 'Whoa, we've got a chance.'"

Winnsboro's Kim Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3:07 left, and Ward then gave Comanche its first lead of the second half, 55-54, with a jumper at the 2:48 mark. Following another of Winnsboro's 25 turnovers, the tiny Martinez was clubbed hard to the floor by a Lady Raider with 2:30 left in the game.

Martinez bounded immediately off the floor and calmly drained both free throws, and Comanche's lead was 57-54. The Maidens then finished the game by making eight consecutive free throws, six by Ward and two by Gracie Dudley. The defensive pressure, the clutch free throw shooting and the steady hand of coach Becky Raesz completed the comeback, and when the buzzer sounded, all that remained was the clipping of the nets.

For Raesz, the former Goldthwaite coach, the win marked the highlight of a fabulous 14-year coaching career that has included 11 years as a head coach and more than 250 wins. For Winnsboro coach Buddy Hawkins, the loss was the kind that lingers like a bad meal.

Ordinarily, the losing team's head coach and two or three selected players make the trip to the press room following the games at the state tournament. On this day, the withered Hawkins decided to attend the post-game session alone, thus sparing his players the misery of trying to answer why the top-ranked team in the state could not hold on to a 10-point lead entering the fourth period.

"I thought we kind of started just standing around," Hawkins said. "We had all the momentum going into the fourth quarter. We talk all the time about playing start to finish. I think we got a little tentative at the end, and it cost us."

Raesz said she believed her team's defense may have been the significant reason for Winnsboro collapse.

"We knew if we started playing defense we could turn the game around," said Raesz, who looked as calm and composed Saturday as she did following Thursday's semifinal win over Dripping Springs. "We didn't play our best over the first three quarters today."

Indeed, after the Maidens led 15-13 following the first quarter, the Lady Raiders outscored Comanche 18-12 in the second quarter to lead 31-27 at half-time. Ward, who finished as the game's leading scorer with 20 points, managed just four points in the first half, all of those in the final 29 seconds of the half.

Tyson, who scored 13 points and snared 10 rebounds in the game, banked a field goal in with 4:25 left in the third period to cut the Winnsboro lead to 40-37. The Lady Raiders answered with six consecutive points, and with 2:38 left in the third quarter, Winnsboro held a comfortable 46-37 lead.

Kristen Williams' lay-up with 1:04 left in the third narrowed the Winnsboro lead to 46-42, but the Lady Raiders responded with six straight points and left the court at the end of the quarter with a standing ovation ringing in their ears and a 10-point lead.

"We knew if we played our game, we could get ahead of them," said Ward, the steady senior who made 10 of 11 free throws. "We just played our hardest and hoped we could win."

Playing their hardest proved to be enough for the Maidens, a team with a storied basketball past. This was their tenth trip to the state tournament, and it will no doubt be remembered forever, memories etched especially in the minds of the fans and players who witnessed the comeback firsthand.

What those at the Erwin Center may not remember are the numbers that told at least part of the story for Comanche. Numbers like 21 offensive rebounds for the Maidens. Numbers like 14-0, the margin Comanche outscored Winnsboro by at the free throw line in the second half. Or how about the numbers turned in by senior Nicole Harlmon - eight points and nine workmanlike rebounds. Then there was Dudley, a sophomore who chipped in with six points, six rebounds, five assists and six steals.

Clearly, this was a victory, and a championship, shared by all of Comanche and the governor to boot. And perhaps it was most sweet for Raesz, who has survived and thrived in the sometimes rough and tumble world that is the life of a small-town high school coach in Texas.

Afterwards, the gold medal hanging on her small frame, Raesz seemed to exist in that blissful, championship daze that most coaches only dream about. So coach, ever meet the governor before?

"Nope," Raesz said. "He put the medal on me, shook my hand and told me I was a great coach. It was pretty exciting."

Especially exciting to Martinez, the Maiden with the big smile, bright eyes and strong heart of a champion. In the post-game press conference, she stuttered and laughed like a normal 15 year-old.

But for the thousands who watched this stirring title game, one thing was clear: this was not your normal 15-year-old. This was a special girl on a special team, a child who will only much later in life truly appreciate the significance of her performance in Saturday's final.

"I came down here in the seventh and eighth grade, and I always hoped I could someday be on the court, too," Martinez said. "This is indescribable. Breathtaking."

When the last interview was over Saturday, the back door of the Erwin Center swung open, and a roar erupted from the hundreds of Comanche fans standing outside in the overcast Austin afternoon. Was it the governor?

No. It was Diana Martinez.