From the hardwood to the gridiron and beyond, taking a look back and ahead at the San Antonio-area high school sports landscape:

By the numbers

2,500: Career assists for Devine senior setter Macey Hein, who accomplished the feat during the Arabians’ three-set win vs. Somerset on Oct. 12. Hein has more than 900 assists this season for Devine, which defeated YWLA on Tuesday to secure its sixth straight district championship.

700: Career wins for New Braunfels Canyon volleyball coach Heather Sanders, who reached the milestone during the Cougarettes’ 25-14, 25-6, 25-11 victory vs. Kerrville Tivy on Tuesday. Sanders is in her 23rd season at Canyon and has led the Cougarettes to four UIL state tournament appearances, the last coming in 2015. Sanders is the eighth area coach to reach the 700-win plateau, joining Cornerstone’s Mike Carter, Poth’s Patti Zenner, Churchill’s Jo Anne Hultgren, O’Connor’s Yami Garcia, Robin Gerlich, Phyllis Fowler and Nicole Blakeman.

40: Years that had passed since East Central last defeated Judson in football. The Hornets edged Judson 30-28 last week on a 43-yard touchdown pass with two seconds left. It was East Central’s first triumph over the Rockets since a 17-14 decision in Week 1 of the 1981 season. The Hornets had lost 18 in a row to Judson before last Friday.

6: Days until the UIL allowed boys basketball teams across the state to conduct their first after-school practice. The season begins Nov. 12 and culminates with the state tournament March 10-12 at the Alamodome.

Notebook

Coming soon: The UIL announced earlier this week at its annual Legislative Council meeting a start date for water polo and the addition of a third classification for swimming and diving.

Water polo will begin as a pilot program during the 2022-23 school year. It was originally supposed to start this year, but the inaugural campaign was delayed because of complications brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 The UIL, which oversees extracurricular activities in Texas, also said that a Class 4A will be added in swimming and diving, starting in 2022-23. Currently, 4A schools compete against schools in 5A.

Area commitments

Macey Hein, Devine basketball: Texas A&M International 

Ethan Sanders, San Antonio Christian track: Texas A&M

terrence@terrencesports.com

Twitter: @sa_terrence1