If you’ve been at any Cedar Park girls’ basketball game over the last few years, the Shelby Hayes cheering section is hard to miss.

With her grandma sitting in the front row and the rest of her family hardly missing a game, Hayes has been a dominant force for the Timberwolves as they capped off an undefeated season and second-straight state title Saturday night.

“It’s amazing to know I have as much support as I do, and I’m very grateful,” Hayes said. “They’re my biggest supporters. When I’m down, they pick me back up.”

Austin has very quickly claimed a spot on the U.S. Soccer rotation, and that shows no signs of slowing down.

The U.S. Women’s National Team arrived at Austin FC’s St. David’s Performance Center last Wednesday for its 10-day January Camp. Even if there aren’t any matches on the schedule during this training camp, the city has made an impression on U.S. Soccer and USWNT roster.

“I would not mind this being a regular stop on the rotation,” defender Kelley O'Hara said. I love Austin, I think it’s a super fun city. They’ve created a great, professional environment here. You can count on me putting in a vote for Austin.”

The confidence oozing from the Round Rock basketball bench is palpable from the dynamic duo Jae’lyn Brooks and Reese Miller to head coach Brent Murphy’s custom maroon-and-white Jordan 1s.

Brooks and Miller have been playing basketball together since middle school, and the chemistry shows for the Dragons, which have won back-to-back games to stay tied atop the District 25-6A standings.

“I’ve always been the best slasher, and he’s always been the best shooter,” Miller said. “That’s just been a great combo. We just play off each other and don’t even have to think about it at this point.”

One game does not define the body of work for Vandegrift.

The Vipers lost 70-7 to back-to-back state champion Westlake in the regional final Saturday afternoon at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium.

In the last four years, Vandegrift has won the outright district or a share of the title and advanced to at least the third round of playoffs in three of those four seasons.

“I’m so proud of these guys to play into December and win a share of the district title and all the amazing relationships we built along the way,” head coach Drew Sanders said.

When McKinze Gaines was growing up in Round Rock, he never envisioned playing for his hometown club, let alone becoming a legend overnight.

Gaines became the first Austinite to score for Austin FC when he rocketed home a volley in the second half of their 2-0 win over the LA Galaxy to etch his name in the history books at Q2 Stadium forever.

“First goals are always special, and to score a goal like that in front of those fans was something that I’ll never forget,” he said.

Julia Grosso’s momentary panic very quickly turned to relief.

When the Texas Soccer senior shot what turned out to be the goal-medal winning penalty kick for Canada at the Tokyo Olympics, she first thought the Swedish goalkeeper saved it, but her shot had enough power to squeak through and make history for Canada.

“I knew that as the final kick, but it took me a second to realize we won gold,” Grosso said. “It was a sign of relief because of all the hard work we’d put in. It was the craziest moment ever.”

Keldon Johnson doesn’t have Twitter, so when news leaked he had been added to the Team USA basketball roster for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, he had no clue his life had changed.

Spurs and Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich congratulated Johnson in the hotel lobby, and the first-round pick that spent his first professional season with the Austin Spurs in the G League was at a loss for words.

“I’m blessed and honored to be an Olympian,” Johnson said. “ I didn’t know what else to say but thank you for the opportunity to go over there and take care of business with the other guys. It’s a big opportunity for me.”

What’s happened over the last few seasons at Texas is truly in the past for first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian.

“Winning is hard,” he said at Big 12 Media Days last week.

While that sentiment is undeniably true, it’s one that the Texas fanbase had heard before. Tom Herman said the same thing after beginning the 2018 season with a loss to Maryland and a seven-point win over Tulsa.

The soccer community in Austin and Austin FC majority owner Anthony Precourt had been waiting for professional soccer to arrive ever since Precourt announced his intentions to bring a Major League Soccer team to the city in September 2017.

When Matthew McConaughey walked onto the pitch in a bright green suit with a bongo drum at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night, it finally did.

“It was an incredible experience,” Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff said. “We’ve been working a long time to get to this day. The way we’ve been taken in from this community from day one, and certainly that relationship and how it’s grown in the last six months — it’s impressive.”

Austin has always been a soccer city, but Christen Press made it official on Wednesday night.

The U.S. Women’s team forward scored the first goal in Q2 Stadium history in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,500 fans as the four-time World Cup champions broke in the $240 million stadium with a 2-0 win over Nigeria.

“It was a dream playing here,” Press said. “It’s been so long since we’ve played in a packed stadium. We missed the fans so much. It was truly special to get a match on this beautiful pitch and play in front of all our fans.”

Five years ago, the Rouse baseball program was coming off a season in which the Raiders failed to win a district game and finished the season on a 14-game losing streak.

Since then, Rouse has won two district titles, made the playoffs every year they’ve been held and is preparing to make its first-ever state tournament appearance Thursday night at Dell Diamond.

What changed before the season five years ago? Chad Krempin was hired as head coach.

There have been a lot of positive things to take from the first three games of Austin FC’s history, but one of the brightest spots has been Jared Stroud.

When he was selected by Austin FC in the expansion draft, he didn’t know much about the club and was a bit nervous, but after starts in the last two games, the 24-year-old midfielder is starting to find his groove early.

"I had high expectations for myself personally, coming into this season,” Stroud said. “It’s about not getting too high from the last two games. I have my personal goals, in terms of numbers I want to hit and chances created every game. But now, I’m approaching every game in the best way possible.”

There’s a chant that the Austin FC supporters’ groups have that reflects the moment Major League Soccer in Central Texas became a reality:

“7-4, 7-4, it was the vote, that built our home. And now we live, among the trees. Listo! Verde! Austin FC!”

That was the margin of the Austin City Council vote in August 2018 that approved what is now Q2 Stadium at McKalla Place and set into motion the final stage of the Austin FC journey that started nearly four years ago.

Austin gave so much to Kekuta Manneh when he was growing up, and he’s ready to give back.

It’s easy to say that nobody on the Austin FC roster is as tied to their new home as much as Manneh, who came to Central Texas more than a decade ago and got his American soccer career started in the youth leagues around Austin.

“To me, it was a no-brainer,” Manneh said. “It was coming back home and playing for the home-town team. Not a lot of people have the opportunity to do that.”

Nikki Cardaño-Hillary jumped in front of a pass, sprinted around a flailing defender and made the first bucket of the game for Indiana in the Hoosiers' upset win over N.C. State in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night.

From Spain to Vista Ridge High School and George Mason to Indiana, Cardaño-Hillary has had success wherever she’s been, and that continues as the Hoosiers advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in school history this season.

“That’s no accident,” Vista Ridge girls’ basketball coach Keith Allen said. “She’s a winner. She loves the game of basketball, and she pours her heart and soul into it, so of course, she’s going to be great at it. She deserves every bit of success she’s had.”

It was hard to watch Cedar Park play or Donny Ott coach this season and not learn something about basketball.

The Timberwolves capped off an incredible season on Wednesday with a 46-39 win over Frisco Liberty to win the first state title for the girls’ basketball program, thanks in part to a coaching staff that has been building momentum over the last four years.

SAN ANTONIO — Cedar Park head coach Donny Ott fell to his knees moments before the final buzzer sounded.

Four years of hard work had built up to the ultimate prize: state champions.

Cedar Park won the state title for the first time in school history on Wednesday night, holding off a late charge from defending state champion Frisco Liberty to earn a 46-39 win to cap off an unforgettable season.

“What makes this feel so good is that I know we earned it,” Ott said.

Cedar Park senior Alisa Knight has learned a lot of basketball skills over the years from many different coaches, but her determination was inherited from the person she looks up to the most.

Annette Smith-Knight is truly a basketball legend. She is the all-time leading scorer in Texas basketball history with 2,523 points, led the Longhorns to a perfect 34-0 record and the national title in 1986 and won a gold medal with Team USA at the 1983 World University Games.

“I wish to this day I could watch her play,” Alisa said. “I always hear of all the things she did during her freshman year of college. Now, I’m the same age as she was in those videos. I want to learn from it in a way. We watch film all the time, I wish I could just watch film on my mom.”