Players on the Plano East softball team raise the gold trophy after the Lady Panthers defeated Hebron 6-5 in a Class 6A Division I bi-district playoff game. Photo by Tina Lopez / C&S Media
By David Wolman
There was plenty of winning by Plano East during the 2024-25 school year, especially on the girls’ side, highlighted by a historic run to the state semifinals by the Plano East girls’ basketball team.
It is time to relive some of those moments.
The Murphy Monitor is proud to introduce the first installment in a three-part series celebrating the top athletic moments, student-athletes, teams and performances from the past year. Categories for the inaugural C&S Media High School sports awards were selected by sports editor David Wolman, with winners published over three weeks.
Part 1 (July 10) includes the Biggest Story, Breakthrough Moment, Newcomer of the Year and Best Team.
Part 2 (July 17) will feature Best Game, Best Finish, Biggest Upset and Multi-Sport Athlete of the Year.
Part 3 (July 24) will wrap up the series with Coach of the Year, Most Improved Athlete, Best Female Athlete and Best Male Athlete.
Here are the winners of the second installment of awards – best game, best finish, biggest upset and multi-sport athlete of the year.
Best game: Hays’ home run lifts Plano East over Plano West (March 21, 2025)
Three days after the Plano West Wolves capitalized on a Plano East defensive error to earn a 6-5 victory, the Panthers atoned for the gaffe in a big way.
Alumnus Jackson Hays hit a walk-off, two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Plano East to a 7-5 victory.
A pitcher’s duel through the first four innings, with only one run being scored between the two teams, both offenses found their rhythm a short time later, combining for 11 runs over the game’s final four innings.
The Panthers appeared to be in total control. A three-run triple by Kellen McWhinnie followed by a Corbin Ahman RBI sacrifice fly gave Plano East a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Plano West was quick to respond, plating three runs in the top of the sixth before leveling the score at 5-5 in the top of the seventh with a sacrifice fly-out. Hays earned Plano East a walk-off win just one inning later with his two-run home run.
Best finish: Wilson rallies softball team to first playoff win since 2017 (April 25, 2025)
Thanks to some seventh inning heroics by incoming junior Julia Wilson, the Plano East Lady Panthers beat Hebron 6-5 in a Class 6A Division I bi-district game from Frisco Emerson High School as they earned their first playoff win since 2017.
Jadyn Dawson got the start on the mound for Plano East, and things didn’t look great out of the gate. Two first-inning home runs by Hebron awarded the Lady Hawks a 3-0 lead after the first half inning. But Dawson settled down for the next couple innings, which allowed her team to claw its way back into the game.
Dawson hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third to forge a 3-3 tie.
Plano East was later down to its last three outs but the Lady Panthers rallied from a 5-3 deficit to stun the Lady Hawks.
Rising junior Gina Martin plated the first two of three Lady Panthers runs in the bottom of the seventh with a triple and Wilson ended the game a short time later with an RBI single.
Biggest upset: Girls’ basketball team stuns South Grand Prairie (Feb. 13, 2025)
South Grand Prairie came into the Class 6A Division I area-round playoff game on a 20-game win streak, winning by an average of 32.8 points.
Plano East wasn’t intimidated by South Grand Prairie’s long win streak nor the Lady Warriors’ impressive success in recent years.
Trailing 33-30 by the end of the third quarter, Plano East rallied to take a 36-35 lead on a floater by rising sophomore phenom Arianna Robinson, who later had a three-point play to give the Lady Panthers a 43-30 lead with 1:21 left in regulation. Although South Grand Prairie attempted to pull off a late rally, Plano East hung on to record a 48-44 win.
Rising junior point guard Kennedy Borders made two free throws with 4.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter for a 47-44 Plano East lead.
Multi-sport athlete of the year: Payten Cooper, girls’ soccer/track and field
Plano East’s girls’ soccer team made the playoffs this year for the first time in 15 years, and the play of Cooper, a midfielder who is a UCLA signee, was a big reason why the Lady Panthers finally got over the hump.
Cooper is a “game-changer,” said Cristy Cooley, Plano East head coach.
With an explosive burst, Cooper has the ability to run past opposing defenders and can finish in the box. Cooper scored two goals in a 5-1 win for Plano East over McKinney Boyd on Jan. 24. Cooper was named the District 6-6A offensive player of the year after the conclusion of the season.
Cooper was a regional qualifier in two relays for the Lady Panthers track and field team. She helped to lead Plano East’s girls’ 4×100 to sixth place in the Region I-6A meet and to eighth place in the 4×400.
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