Marble Falls girls hoops defeats Lampasas to move to a tie for first in district

CAPTION: Marble Falls posts Emma Bindseil (25) and Lexie Edwards cut off the lane to the basket, forcing Lampasas junior guard Aspen Wheeler to attempt a fade-away jumper. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School girls basketball team defeated Lampasas 62-48 Jan. 14, which means both teams move to 2-1 in District 24-4A play.

“It’s a huge win,” head coach John Berkman said. “We’re right back at the top of the district race. And it keeps us from having second loss at home. It made a big difference. Winning two (district) games in a row is a big deal”

The Lady Mustangs (got their usual performances from senior guards Alyssa Berkman and Tea Rodriguez and from junior center Lexie Edwards. But the game was won by their teammates, who contributed on both ends of the floor and played at a peak level to ensure victory. They dived to the floor for loose balls, stretched for deflections, steals and rebounds, and consistently won one-on-one match-ups, no matter which end of the court.

“I think it’s important,” Berkman said. “You can’t take any one player for granted. Everybody else stepped up, and that allowed Tea to do her thing.”

Her “thing” was spotting up for long jumpers, driving to the hoop for baskets, or drawing the defense so she could distribute the ball to an open teammate to set her up for the score.

The two teams began the game by matching each other bucket for bucket. Lampasas junior guard Aspen Wheeler scored on a fade-away jumper to give the Lady Badgers (22-8) a 7-6 lead with 3 minutes and 57 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

But Rodriguez and Edwards answered with a drive-and-dump bucket to trigger an 18-2 that chewed up 9:11 of the first half. Rodriguez and senior guard Mackenzie Farmer each nailed a 3-pointer and senior post Emma Bindseil added a 2-point bucket. Much of the damage was from the foul line where Marble Falls went 11 for 15 during that span for 24-9 lead.

But Lampasas answered with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 24-17.

Rodriguez answered with a 3-pointer that began a series where both teams answered each other with a basket. Still, Marble Falls took a 29-19 lead into the locker room.

Berkman gave the third stanza its top highlight. She spotted up for a 3-pointer in the left corner and was fouled. But she nailed the long jumper then completed the rare 4-point play from the free-throw line to give the Lady Mustangs a 43-30 lead with 2:11 left in the period. Marble Falls led 45-33 headed into the final period.

The Lady Mustangs outscored the Lady Badgers 17-15 in the fourth for the win and snapped Lampasas’ four-game winning streak.

Coach Berkman pointed out the Lady Mustangs made more free throws than the Lady Badgers attempted. Marble Falls was 22 for 37, while Lampasas was 7 for 15 for the contest.

“Our goal every game is to get 20 attempts,” the coach said. “We made 22 of 37. You shoot that many, you have the other team in a bind.”

Lampasas senior guard Brooke White led with 15 points and was the only Lady Badger in double figures.

Alyssa Berkman led all scorers with 19 points followed by Rodriguez with 12. Bindseil, Edwards and Koziel each scored nine, Farmer added three, and sophomore forward Bethany Fry had one.

“Lexie was aggressive to the rim,” Berkman said. “She turned it on today. She’s doing a good job. Alyssa had 19. You have to have someone who scores, and we had a lot of kids who chipped in. We want to be deliberate. We’re best in transition, but we want to dictate what happens. We gave up 46 points, which is more than we want to give up.”

And though not everyone scored, the coach noted every contribution was big. Case in point was sophomore Kylie Roberts, who challenged shots, got on the floor to wrestle for loose balls, and cut off dribbling and passing lanes that helped limit the Lady Badgers to one shot per possession.

“Everybody did their job,” Berkman said. “Kylie played really well on the back end. She anticipates things, she rebounds the ball. We need her to do the dirty work.”

Marble Falls travels to Lago Vista Tuesday, Jan. 17, in a doubleheader with the boys. The girls varsity plays at 6:30 p.m. with the boys varsity to follow.

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