AUSTIN — An online search of Smyer, Texas, turns up a town with a listed population of 479.

It’s a good bet almost all of them were the ones packing the two sections behind the bench in the corner of the Frank Erwin Special Events Center on Saturday morning, watching the hometown Lady Cats make history with the school’s first basketball state championship.

When people in the future tell stories about how dominant Smyer was in the 2010 UIL Girls State Tournament, they won’t be embellished tales that get bigger with time.

“It was unbelievable to see our stands,” head coach Leland Bearden said. “We have 106 kids in high school, and we started picking up more and more fans during the season. It was amazing. These girls have put Smyer, Texas, on the map and I’m so proud of them for that.”

A combination of tremendous athletic ability and uncanny calmness for a team in the state tournament for the first time combined to not only push the Lady Cats (36-3) through the rigors of the postseason but also through a venue that has weakened the knees of more than a few first-time players.

Smyer, however, was unaffected by the pressure, or if it was, certainly didn’t show it.

“I think we were just out there and ready to play, and we wanted to win,” said tournament Most Valuable Player Haley Fowler, who scored 35 points in the championship game victory over Martin’s Mill, becoming just the fifth Class 1A player in tournament history with 35 or more points.

“Everybody was saying we’re so young, that we didn’t understand how big this opportunity is. But everybody realized where we were and we knew we could do it.”

Maybe Smyer’s best accomplishment of the whole weekend was appearing calm under pressure.

“I’ve been very nervous,” Bearden said. “I’m not sure I’ve been hiding it very well, but the girls have been phenomenal. It was almost a mission on their part. It’s been a goal for so long. They wanted to achieve it and they did.”

And the best part of the whole experience is it may just be the beginning.

Aside from seniors Bailey Robertson and Jesse Daniel, almost the entire team will be back to defend the title, including sophomore Fowler, who now becomes a known commodity statewide after pouring in 60 points in two games combined in the tournament.

But these Lady Cats are more than that. Freshmen Jordan Locke and Kennedy Farr played huge roles all season, and Bearden praised sophomore guard Nikki Gholson’s improvement from last season’s regional finalist squad.

And it might be the beginning of a bit of a rivalry, since Martin’s Mill brings back everyone from this year’s team except one.

Bearden would have no problem playing the Lady Mustangs again.

“I sure hope so,” he said. “If I meet coach (Doug) Barncastle again it means we’re in the state tournament, and it’s been one heck of a ride.”

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