Clearly superior to its opponent Tuesday night, the A&M Consolidated girls basketball team seemed certain to bounce back from losing a showdown game last week. The question was how much of a bounce the Lady Tigers would get.

It wasn't spectacularly high but easily enough for Consol to thump Belton 56-28 in the teams' regular-season finale at Tiger Gym.

The Lady Tigers (25-9, 11-3) tied Temple for second place in District 12-5A. Consol will open the Class 5A state playoffs against Mesquite (20-10, 6-4) next week. Mesquite defeated Tyler Lee 70-54 on Tuesday in a battle for third place in 11-5A.

After the game Consol coaches lost a flip with Temple to determine playoff seeding, but Temple chose to be the district's third seed and face 11-5A runner-up Mesquite Horn (15-15, 7-3).

Belton (8-24, 2-12) wound up with more turnovers (29) than points even though Consol coach Karen Heintz used her reserves early and often.

The Lady Tigers made 9-of-20 attempts from behind the 3-point line, with sophomore Blair Schaefer hitting 5 of 8 for a game-high 15 points. Consol played defense well enough that Belton connected on just 11-of-33 shots, but several of Belton's turnovers were self-inflicted.

"I felt like we did some things well," Heintz said. "I thought Blair shot the ball pretty good. Tori [Tucker] worked on all aspects of her game. We got a chance to play some younger players at key positions. We're going to need a lot of people down the road, so I'm glad for that opportunity."

It was Consol's first chance to respond after a 59-33 loss at Harker Heights on Friday.

"We needed to bounce back from Harker Heights," Heintz said. "We needed to bury that."

Belton stayed with the Lady Tigers for a while, trailing by only two points nearly six minutes into the game. However, Consol scored 19 of the next 23 points to seize command.

Consol spent the rest of the game sharing playing time and working on its aim from beyond the 3-point line. The Lady Tigers hit 4-of-6 treys in the third quarter, getting two each from Schaefer and senior reserve Morgan Smith.

Senior point guard Tierra Tucker, a three-year starter, did not start for what Heintz called a team issue. She entered the game midway through the second quarter and played about nine minutes.

Micayla Gooden and Tori Tucker scored eight points apiece for Consol, with Tucker going 3 for 14 from the field.

Consol 56, Belton 28

(Numbers indicate field goals, free throws made-attempted, fouls and points)

CONSOL (25-9, 11-3) -- Tiara Tucker 2 1-2 3 5; Tori Tucker 3 1-3 2 8; Blair Schaefer 5 0-0 1 15; Callie Eddens 0 0-0 0 0; Cierra Thomas 1 2-2 0 4; Morgan Smith 2 0-0 1 6; Micayla Gooden 1 6-7 3 8; Rejhai Dickey 2 0-0 0 4; Tierra Tucker 2 0-0 0 5; Madison Becker 0 0-0 0 0; Kaycee Cermin 0 0-0 1 0; Kayla Bowman 0 1-2 1 2; Beth Ashley 0 0-0 0 0. Totals: 18 11-16 12 56.

BELTON (8-24, 2-12) -- Torie Henderson 2 1-2 4 5; Emily Hugo 0 0-0 0 0; Kenedy Fowler 2 0-0 0 4; Nicole LeBeouf 0 0-0 0 0; Vanessa Jimenez 0 2-4 0 2; Kinsey Williams 3 2-2 2 9; Lindsey Dunahoo1 0-0 3 2; Tieriani Domingue 0 0-0 0 0; Olivia Warhime 1 0-0 1 2; Savannah Frick 0 0-0 1 0; Briana Ragland 0 0-0 1 0. Totals: 11 5-8 15 28.

Belton 5 8 7 8 -- 28

Consol 13 18 14 11 -- 56

Field goal shooting: Consol 18-44, Belton 11-33.

3-point shooting: Consol 9-20, Belton 1-11.

Rebounds: Consol 27, Belton 26.

Turnovers: Consol 19, Belton 29.

JV: Consol 51, Belton 50. Consol -- Bowman 18, Daily 12, Carraway 11.

Next: Consol will open the Class 5A state playoffs against Mesquite on Monday or Tuesday at a site to be determined.