Faith Academy girls hoops goes 2-1 at own tourney
CAPTION: Elleson Lehmberg gets a defensive rebound to help the Lady Flames earn their first win of their own tournament when they defeated Austin Regents Dec. 10. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls girls basketball team played two days of tremendous basketball Dec. 9-10 when the Lady Flames hosted their own tournament.
Faith defeated Austin Regents 37-22 and Bulverde Living Rock 65-13 on the second day after starting the event with a 27-25 loss to Fredericksburg Heritage.
The Lady Flames were especially impressive against Regents where they scored 16 points in the second stanza for a 21-6 lead at the half. Part of the lead came from hitting 6 of 8 free throws in the second quarter and 9 of 14 in the first half.
Head coach Kat Canada said the second period demonstrated the Lady Flames are growing in confidence.
“The girls are getting more comfortable with the teaching from the coaches of the playbook,” she said. “And they’re showing patience. They’re doing what we’re asking them to do, which is not over-thinking and making the easy plays. They’re all smart girls, and they’re getting it.”
She noted the free throws highlighted what coaches had been telling the players, which was to attack the basket and not make it easy on the defense.
“They all did what I asked them,” she said. “We asked them to do it without fouling. We all helped. Everybody has to do everything at the same time.”
When the offense went cold in the third quarter, the Lady Flames’ defensive intensity didn’t, which also pleased their coach, who told the players to run their stall offense to run some clock and tire out the defense. That worked, especially in the fourth period. By then the lead was too big for Regents to start fouling.
The second half can be summed up in one play. After the Lady Flames missed a shot, forward Audri Poage, who was named to the all-tournament team, wasn’t blocked out and scored on the offensive rebound. That deflated the opponent.
“Audri is very consistent with her willingness to do what I ask,” the coach said. “Her box-outs were amazing, she gets good rebounds, she comes down and runs plays, sets proper screens and finishes.”
Junior post Morgan Weems, who led the squad with 11 points, was especially important. She set the screens for the ball handlers to run the stall and used her size on the defensive end to get rebounds and help limit Regents to one shot.
“She did her job,” Canada said. “They’re all doing their jobs. Everybody contributed. It takes everybody across the board.”
A confident Faith team returned to the court to face Living Rock. Weems led with 18 points followed by Poage with 14.
“They’re all perfectionists,” the coach said. “In the past, we’ve had a lot of mental breakdowns. We’re overcoming that, and we’re playing for each other. We’ve had games where we have three or four people who aren’t contributing to points. We need everybody to contribute, and everybody did what they needed to do against Living Rock. Your role might not be big, but your role is just as important.”
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